Michael Willingham

''The reality is Enron's going bankrupt,'' said Michael Willingham, a risk manager at Itochu International Inc., a unit of a Japanese trading firm. ''Enron touted themselves as the king of risk management, but it doesn't look like they've managed their risk very well.''

Enron's sudden collapse - $26 billion of market value evaporated in seven weeks - deals a blow to Alliance Capital Management Holdings LLP and other big mutual funds, Wall Street lenders such as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc., and the 21,000 employees, many of whom were relying on shares of the Houston company for their retirement.