David B. Duncan is the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 government's star witness

Witness

A witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about an event, or in the criminal justice systems usually a crime, through his or her senses and can help certify important considerations about the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event first hand is known as an eyewitness...

 in the Arthur Andersen

Arthur Andersen

Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the "Big Five" accounting firms among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations...

 trial

Trial (law)

In law, a trial is when parties to a dispute come together to present information in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court...

. He has said fears over interpretation prompted him to order the shredding of documents relating to Enron

Enron

Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 staff and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with...

.

He was an Andersen employee for 20 years, who was in charge of the Enron account since 1997, for which he was paid over $1 million. He was fired from Andersen in January 2002 and charged with obstruction of justice

Obstruction of justice

The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...

 for ordering Andersen staff to shred over a ton of papers related to Enron. On April 9, 2002 he pleaded guilt

Guilt

Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...

y; the maximum sentence for his crimes is ten years, but since he pleaded guilty and became a witness for the prosecution he would have presumably received a much smaller sentence. His sentencing date was postponed numerous times. He currently resides in Houston, Texas and has three daughters.

He withdrew his guilty plea on December 12, 2005 after the overturning of the Arthur Andersen conviction

Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States

Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States, 544 U.S. 696 was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously overturned accounting firm Arthur Andersen's conviction of obstruction of justice on the basis that the jury instructions did not properly portray the law Andersen was charged...

. This was approved by U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon

Melinda Harmon

U.S. District Court Judge Melinda Harmon was lead judge in the subsequently overruled Arthur Andersen trial. Civil lawsuits against Enron were consolidated in her court; she oversaw class action lawsuits on behalf of both Enron shareholders and its employees....

.

In January 2008 he settled charges with the SEC that he violated securities laws.