Lou Pai
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Lou Lung Pai (Chinese: 白露龙; pinyin: Bái Lòulóng) born Nanjing China 1946, is a Chinese-American businessman and former Enron executive. He was CEO of Enron Energy Services[1] and Enron Xcelerator, a venture capital division of Enron. He left Enron with over $250 million.[2] Pai became the second largest land owner in Colorado when he purchased the 77,500-acre (314 km2) Taylor Ranch,[3] though he later sold the property in 2005.[4]
Lou Pai 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.[5] 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.[6]
Accounts of the Enron scandal have frequently portrayed him as a mysterious figure;[7][8][9] a former Enron employee, interviewed in the documentary film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, referred to Pai as "the invisible CEO".[10]
Life
Pai was born in Nanjing, China and came to the United States at the age of two. Pai obtained both his B.S. and M.S. in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park, where his father was a mathematics professor.[11]
A mathematics whiz, he was instrumental in getting Enron into the trading business. His frequent visits to strip clubs led to an affair with a stripper, Melanie Fewell. His wife, upon finding out about it, filed for divorce. To meet his divorce settlement, he cashed out of Enron an amount believed to be around $300 million just before the company's collapse.[6] Between 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.[6] At the time, the shares averaged $53.78 per share.[6] 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." Pai then married his girlfriend, now Melanie Pai (nee Fewell).[5]
As owner of the Taylor Ranch, Pai owned a 14,047 foot Colorado mountain called Culebra Peak.[8] His neighbors reportedly referred to the ranch as "Mount Pai".[12]
Pai is currently investing in pollution emission credits at Element Markets.[13]
On July 30, 2008, Pai agreed to resolve 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 harmed by Enron's bankruptcy.[6] 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.[6] As part of the settlement, Pai is also barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years.[14]
His sister is Sue Pai Yang, the first Asian American appointed to be a New Jersey Workers' Compensation Judge. [15]
He has three children; two with his ex-wife and a daughter with his current wife. He has two step-children from his marriage to his current wife. They no longer live in Sugarland, Tx, but moved east, to Bolinvar in Middleburg, Virginia. He lives with his daughter and wife.
See also
- Timeline of the Enron scandal (May 18, 2001)
References
- ^ "Pai and Skilling". 2005-06-28.
- ^ Johnson, Carrie (2007-03-20). "Investors Defeated In Enron Decision". Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-05-11.
- ^ "Taylor Ranch sells". High Country News. 1999-08-16.
- ^ "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room". Stylus Magazine. 2005-06-02.
- ^ a b Elkind, Peter; McLean, Bethany (2006-04-03). "The luckiest people in Houston". Fortune Magazine. Retrieved 2010-05-11.
- ^ a b c d e f Gordon, Marcy. "Former Enron exec paying $31.5M in SEC settlement", Associated Press, Business Week, 2008-07-30. Retrieved on 2008-07-30.
- ^ "Lou Pai, Enron's Elusive Mystery Man". National Public Radio. 2006-05-17.
- ^ a b "The Mystery of Pai". Denver Westword. 2002-04-18.
- ^ "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room". Stylus Magazine. 2005-06-02.
- ^ "Enron: caught on camera". Accountancy Age. 2005-06-16.
- ^ McLean, Bethany (2003). The Smartest Guys in the Room. Penguin Group, USA. p. 57.
- ^ "C-SPAN Q&A : BRIAN LAMB, HOST: Bethany McLean, author". 2005-06-20.
- ^ Davis, Ann (2006-11-14). "Enron veterans flourish due to 'mystique'". Accountancy Age.
- ^ Reynolds, David J. and Judith Burns. Former Enron Executive Pai Agrees to Insider-Trading Settlement, Wall Street Journal, 2008-07-30. Retrieved on 2008-07-30.
- ^ | "Sue Pai Yang biography at International Associate of Women Judges website"