Lou Pai

Lou Lung Pai (白露龙) born Nanjing China 1946, is a Chinese-American businessman and former Enron executive. He was CEO of Enron Energy Services [cite web|url=http://www.enronblog.com/2005/06/28/pai-and-skilling/|title=Pai and Skilling|date=2005-06-28] and Enron Xcelerator, a venture capital division of Enron. He left Enron with over $280 million. [cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901725.html|publisher=Washington Post|title=Investors Defeated In Enron Decision|date=2007-03-20] Pai became the second largest land owner in Colorado when he purchased the convert|77500|acre|km2|0|sing=on Taylor Ranch [cite web|url=http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=5180|publisher=High Country News|title=Taylor Ranch sells|date=1999-08-16] , though he later sold the property in 2005. [cite web|url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=1668|publisher=Stylus Magazine|title=Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room|date=2005-06-02] He has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing in the Enron scandal and has exercised his 5th Amendment right in regard to the subsequent Enron class action lawsuit. [cite web|url=http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/04/17/8374281/index.htm|publisher=Fortune Magazine|title=The luckiest people in Houston|date=2006-04-03] However, as a result of the lawsuit, Pai forfeited $6 million due to him from Enron's insurance policy for company officers to a fund for Enron shareholders.Gordon, Marcy. [http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D927MBFO0.htm "Former Enron exec paying $31.5M in SEC settlement"] , Associated Press, "Business Week", 2008-07-30. Retrieved on 2008-07-30.]

Accounts of the Enron scandal have frequently portrayed him as a mysterious figure [cite web|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5411422|publisher=National Public Radio|title=Lou Pai, Enron's Elusive Mystery Man|date=2006-05-17] cite web|url=http://www.westword.com/issues/2002-04-18/news/feature.html|publisher=Denver Westword|title=The Mystery of Pai|date=2002-04-18] [cite web|url=http://www.nicksflickpicks.com/enronpat.html|publisher=Stylus Magazine|title=Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room|date=2005-06-02] ; a former Enron employee, interviewed in the documentary film , referred to Pai as the "the invisible CEO". [cite web|url=http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/features/2138786/caught-camera|publisher=Accountancy Age|title=Enron: caught on camera|date=2005-06-16]

Early life

Pai was born in Nanjing, China and came to the US at the age of 2. Pai obtained both his BS and MS from the University of Maryland in College Park, where his father was a math professor. [cite book|last=McLean|first=Bethany|year=2003|title=The Smartest Guys in the Room|publisher=Penguin Group, USA|page=57]

A mathematics wiz, he was instrumental in getting Enron into the trading business. He was notorious for his strip club visits at the expense of the Enron shareholders. His corporate expenses went so out of hand that an internal memo was circulated in Enron explicitly disallowing "strip club" expenses.Fact|date=July 2008 Pai also used Enron's corporate jet for personal travel.Fact|date=July 2008

His frequent visits to strip clubs led to an affair with a stripper. His wife, upon finding out about it, filed for divorce. To meet his divorce settlement, he cashed out of Enron to an amount believed to be around $300 million just before the collapse. Betwen May 18, 2001 and June 7, 2001, Pai sold 338,897 shares of Enron stock and exercised Enron stock options that put another 572,818 shares on the open market. At the time, the shares averaged $53.78 per share. An attorney for Pai says sale of the stock was part of the divorce settlement, insulating Pai from insider trading charges, adding "He's the only guy who's ever been lucky to get divorced."Fact|date=July 2008 Pai then married his stripper girlfriend, now Melanie Pai.Fact|date=July 2008

As owner of the Taylor Ranch, Pai owned a 14,047 foot Colorado mountain called Culebra Peak. His neighbors reportedly referred to the ranch as "Mount Pai". [cite web|url=http://www.apfn.net/Messageboard/06-22-05/discussion.cgi.48.html|title=C-SPAN Q&A : BRIAN LAMB, HOST: Bethany McLean, author|date=2005-06-20]

Pai is currently investing in pollution emission credits at Element Markets, LLC. [cite web|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06318/738262-28.stm|publisher=Accountancy Age|title=Enron veterans flourish due to 'mystique'|date=2006-11-14]

On July 30, 2008, Pai agreed to resolve the civil insider trading charges against him with an out-of-court settlement of $31.5 million, including $1.5 million in civil fines and $30 million in restitution, to be deposited into a fund for shareholders negatively caught in Enron's fallout. He continues to neither admit nor deny the Securities and Exchange Commission claims that he sold millions of shares of Enron stock based on non-public information about the company's financial problems. It is one of the largest settlements in the history of the SEC's enforcement program dealing with an individual for alleged insider trading. As part of the settlement, Pai is also barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years following. [Reynolds, David J. and Judith Burns. [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121736918825994755.html "Former Enron Executive Pai Agrees to Insider-Trading Settlement"] , "Wall Street Journal", 2008-07-30. Retrieved on 2008-07-30.]

ee also

*Timeline of the Enron scandal (May 18, 2001)

References

External links

* [http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13194 Information from CORPWATCH on Lou Pai]