Days after 9/11, an Arthur Andersen Partner Goes to Jail After Abandoning Staff at Airport
Photo by David Watkis on Unsplash
In a Bold Move, Rod Johnson, an Arthur Andersen Partner, found himself in jail after abandoning staff members at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans days after 9/11. This is a story of how small decisions, made without malice, can have calamitous consequences.
Rod Johnson was a very successful young technology partner out of the San Francisco office. He was as handsome as Tom Cruise, but was taller and with whiter teeth. He radiated confidence and seemed at ease in any situation.
The day after the 9/11 tragedy, Mr. Johnson found himself stranded at the airport in New Orleans with two staff people. All flights were grounded and there were no available rental cars at the airport. The team was left to sleep at the airport and await the day when flights might start again.
In the middle of the night while they were asleep on the airport floor, Mr. Johnson’s phone rang. It was the rental car company telling him that he could pick up a car at an offsite location. Not wanting to wake his staff, Mr. Johnson got up off the floor and proceeded to the airport taxi station to take a cab to the offsite location. The first cab to arrive was driven by a person whose face did not match the picture on the taxi license that was on the visor of the cab. Mr. Johnson took note of the discrepancy but decided to proceed anyways. Once in the car, he explained to the driver where he need to go and the reason for the trip. Excitedly, the cab driver offered Mr. Johnson a proposition, “My name is Achmed and I am a great driver. If you pay me $800 dollars, I will drive you all of the way to San Francisco.” Rather than picking up his rental car and returning to get his staff people, Mr. Johnson accepted Achmed’s offer and the two started heading west.
After falling asleep in the back seat, Mr. Johnson was jolted awake by a loud bang and a swerving of the taxi which quickly pulled to the side of the highway. Mr. Johnson and Achmed exited the vehicle and surveyed the damage. One tire was blown, and the others were lacking any tread. Luckily, they were able to be towed to a nearby town where the two of them waited for a tire store to open. Mr. Johnson, being the only one with a credit card, agreed to buy new tires on the condition that he would be reimbursed by Achmed once the trip was over. This did not sit well with Achmed and the two got into a loud argument that was noted by the store employees and patrons. They eventually settled down, purchased the tires and continued on their long drive west.
As they hit east Texas, Achmad started saying strange things to Mr. Johnson. He expressed sympathy for the terrorists that had just died and felt that “America had gotten what it deserved”. Feeling that this was just a sign of fatigue, Mr. Johnson offered to drive the taxi and let the driver get some sleep in the back. The offer was accepted, and Mr. Johnson took the wheel and continued on the journey with his new tires and a sleeping Achmed in the back. It must have felt good for Mr. Johnson, a man of action, to finally be in control of his own destiny while helping someone else get their composure back.
A few hours later, Mr. Johnson saw a stream of police and public safety vehicles approaching quickly from behind with lights flashing and sirens blazing. Rather than passing him, they motioned for him to pull over. The next thing he knew, Mr. Johnson found himself lying face down on the hot Texas pavement with a shotgun held to the back of his head. The authorities urgently wanted to know why he was driving stolen cab across state lines with a person of interest asleep in the back seat. It took three days in a Texas jail being interrogated by the FBI for Mr. Johnson to be released. It took that many days for them to believe that any person could make so many unusual decisions in such a short time.
Nine months later, Arthur Andersen would be shuttered after the Enron fiasco. All of the partners that had once giggled about the Johnson story went to rebuild their careers at other firms. In a twist of fate, Mr. Johnson would later become the Global Head of Risk of Risk Management for two different global consulting firms. Following those two roles, he founded a non-profit that protects exploited children.
Years later one asks is there a moral to this story? Is it a story of redemption that shows that no matter what happens to you, you can recover, enjoy a successful career and do great good for others? Small, seemingly unimportant decisions by well-meaning partners led to the fall of Arthur Andersen. After the fall of the firm, most partners and staff went on to have great careers and be impactful members of their communities. This is not surprising given that the core value of the firm was “stewardship”. Or is the moral much more simple? Maybe the lesson is that if you put your own needs ahead of those that work for you, even for a second, you may find yourself face down with a shotgun pointed at the back of your head.
Fact Checker: This story is true, but the names have been changed. I knew Rod and he was very a nice man. We have all made decisions to leave project sites early as our staff slaved away into the wee hours of the night. Luckily, few of us have had to pay such a heavy price.