Inside Enron, CEO Stephen Cooper

H O U S T O N, Feb. 20, 2002 -- Enron may be bankrupt, but it's still open for business. It's a messy mix of jittery workers, moving boxes and empty offices — but 20,000 people still get regular paychecks from the company, and 2,500 of those employees are in Houston.

And many of those inside Enron say it can actually survive. One of its stronger supporters is the company's temporary CEO, Steven Cooper.

ABCNEWS' Claire Shipman spoke with Cooper in an exclusive interview for Good Morning America.

Asked about Enron's chances, Cooper said he thinks the company's odds are good and he expects that Enron will return to the basics it started with.

"It's not as if this is a slam-dunk and it is not as if this is going to be without stressful moments," Cooper said, from his offices in the glittering Enron building's opulent 50th floor, where the old bosses have been thrown out of their plush suites. "It may be boring, it may not have the sex appeal of a trading operation, but it's a hell of a good business by way of predictability and cash flow."

‘The Crime Is That This Happened’

Of the investigations swirling around the company — both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department are looking into the firm and its longtime auditor, Arthur Andersen — Cooper called it unacceptable that some former top executives said they didn't realize the company was in serious trouble right before it went bankrupt.

"It seems to me that the top executives were responsible for knowing what was going on," Cooper told Shipman. "If you're accounting for knowing what's going on and you don't, it's omission, and if you knew what was going on and you did nothing about it, it's commission. Either one is unacceptable," he said.

Cooper stressed that the special limited partnerships that hid the company's finances will not be part of the new Enron. But he said he doesn't know if crimes were committed at Enron.

"I know the crime is that this happened. The crime is that all of these people have been hurt and what may have been a company that could have grown nicely and steadily," said Cooper, adding: "The crime is that somebody turbo-charged it to the point where it just poof — blew up."

But when it comes the possibility of jail sentences for some of those being investigated, Cooper said it wouldn't surprise him. "I think that, given the enormity of the damage that's been created, I think it's going to be difficult not to hold one or more people accountable, and I think it is — don't know if it's a high likelihood — but I think that there is some likelihood that, you know, one or more people could end up, you know, going to jail," he said.

Under Tainted Name, Getting Back to Basics

Cooper, who's occupying former CEO Jeff Skilling's office, is scaling back almost all of Skilling's high-flying innovations.

The change is raw and readily apparent everywhere you turn in the Enron building. The company's centerpiece trading operation now sits silent. The new locus of power is what amounts to pipeline central, where natural gas pressure and flow around the country is monitored.

All of the most visible symbols of Enron's prowess will eventually disappear, according to Cooper. The old stock will have no value, the gleaming $125 million fortress will go on the block and even the company's name will be changed.

"There's somewhat of a taint with the Enron name," acknowledged Cooper. "In fact, I've noticed in the press when anything is bad now it's because somebody's been Enronized, Enronated or Enroned."

More Layoffs Likely; Long Line of Creditors

Enron will not be able to make good on the full $30 billion it owes, but Cooper insists a new streamlined business will be better for creditors than a fire-sale.

Yet the people lucky enough to still have their jobs are also feeling the fallout."It's been a lot of stress, a lot of uncertainty going around based on the company … our jobs, all the stuff we're hearing," said Enron employee Josh Mayes.

Cooper can't provide job security. In fact, he says more layoffs are likely, but employees desperate for information like Cooper's no-nonsense style and regular voice-mails that bring them up to speed on the latest Enron news — good and bad.

And thousands of Enron employees were stripped of their retirement savings in accounts loaded with Enron stock as the company slid into bankruptcy on Dec. 2.But the biggest creditors are in charge when it comes to possibility of helping Enron's former employees. They don't have to, and it's probably unlikely that they will do something for those employees.

"Bankruptcy has a prescribed order of seniority with respect to economic stakeholders," Cooper said. "It's unfortunate that thousands of people lost their jobs, but my focus is really on the 20,000 that are still here and how to ensure that as many of those people are having jobs going forward," he said.

Meanwhile, the doors and the cafeteria are still open at the beleaguered Enron, where everyone is hoping the odds really are pretty good.

ABCNEWS' Claire Shipman and John Kennedy produced this story for Good Morning America.