Ahead of the Game

The Daily features former Enron exec, Lou Pai (h/t Big Picture):

When the wheels came off at Enron 10 years ago, the smartest guy was nowhere near the room. Lou Pai, known as the company’s “invisible CEO,” famously cashed out millions of dollars in stock, married a stripper and decamped to a massive ranch in Colorado.

But, it seems, the lure of the arcane energy derivatives market can be hard to resist.

A decade after his former employer collapsed in a spectacular $63 billion bankruptcy, Pai is back in Houston, at a company based in a glass office tower near the River Oaks Country Club, trading in corners of the power industry with little regulation.

“You could draw a straight line from Enron to the market that they are in now,” one industry source told The Daily.

Pai, who declined an interview request, has bankrolled a green energy company called Element Markets, led by two ex-Enron employees, Angela Schwartz and Jeffrey Parker. The company trades in emission credits, biomethane and waste renewal. Clients include cities, developers, power plants and refineries.

Bail out of Enron before the crash and marry a stripper?  Lucky, smart or both?  Probably both.  He doesn't sound like the best neighbor to have.