"The trading company did not bring Enron down. The energy outsourcing and pipelines did not cause Chapter 11 (bankruptcy). It was an egregious and overtly aggressive financing strategy that blew up in their faces and everyone else's," said John Olsen, director of research at securities firm Sanders Morris Harris.

And this now seems to be the generally accepted reason for failure of the energy giant Enron, which was formed in 1985, and was hailed as one of the top ten investment stocks just last year.

Fifteen years after it set up, Enron diversified into telecommunications, insurance, lumber, paper production and investments, and became regarded as the industry leader for the energy industry.

It was showing revenues in excess of $100 billion and had 21,000 employees worldwide. Enron was highly acclaimed as the "pioneer and master of the new competitive markets in energy" because it invented the concept of buying and selling simple products like energy, water and telecommunications on the open market in the same way people trade stocks and bonds.

It was named "America's most innovative company" by Fortune magazine for six years in a row.

The demise of Enron was sealed when the much smaller energy marketing and trading company, Dynegy, backed out of the deal to take over Enron.

Signals were there long before Enron officially filed for Chapter 11 that there was something seriously wrong with the company. Six weeks prior to declaring bankruptcy, a discrepancy in Enron's accounts prompted an investigation by the US government. Enron later admitted to overstating profits by $600 million from 1997-2001.

Enron is now blaming Dynegy for its bankruptcy saying that if Dynegy hadn't backed out of the deal, it would have had enough money to pay off its debtors. Dynegy, claiming it had no idea Enron's financial woes were so dire, withdrew from the negotiating table when Enron admitted its profits were less than reported.

Dynegy is now being hailed as the David who triumphed over Goliath, Enron. The acquisition of Enron by Dynegy has been compared to Pepsi buying out Coca-Cola.

Many of Enron's employees have lost their retirement savings because Enron's 401K (retirement plan) was heavily invested in company stock.

Many outside shareholders - including major financial institutions - had significant investments in Enron. At its peak Enron was selling at $90 a share. At its demise, it was trading as low as 10 cents a share

It also looks like the top executives who were selling millions in stock as employees and others continued to buy, may have been the "smart money" that got out.