The U.S. Justice Department announced it will not retry its case against Arthur Andersen.
In a federal court filing in New Orleans, prosecutors said that it was not in the best "interests of justice," to pursue the failed firm on obstruction of justice charges for shredding documents related to the collapse of Enron Corp.
In June, the Supreme Court overturned the original conviction of the firm, saying that the trial judge should have given the jury instructions strictly defining what prosecutors had to prove in order for Arthur Andersen to be found guilty. On principle, Arthur Anderson had appealed the original conviction to clear the firm's name.
While Arthur Andersen will avoid a criminal conviction, the firm is already a shell of itself, with just a few hundred employees working out of its Chicago office. The firm had originally been fined $500,000 and put on probation for five years.
The lead partner on the Enron account in the accounting firm's Houston office had pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and cooperated with the government's case against his former employer.
