Aweek before bruce williamson took over as chief executive in October 2002, Dynegy fin-ished laying off 1,100 workers— a fifth of its staff—in its Houston headquarters. The Enron scandal was swirling, Dynegy itself was feeing similar charges of fraudulent trading and price gouging during California's energy crisis— charges that have since resulted in $30.5 million in penalties and three criminal convictions. Employees wandered the halls in a stupor, as if seeing the ghosts of former colleagues in the now-vacant offices. Some survivors wondered if the departed weren't the lucky ones—they got severance, after all, more than the rest could hope for if Dynegy followed Enron into bankruptcy.
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