Enron Exec 'Not Feeling Anything'
Feb. 6 -- No one has come out further ahead in the Enron mess than Lou Pai, a 54-year-old former executive who, in the last two years, cleared an estimated $270.2 million.
"It's mind-boggling," said Bruce Ranier, president of the UNITE trade union. "In fact, it is almost equal to the entire budget of the Securities and Exchange Commission."
As a top Enron executive, Pai set up a series of multibillion-dollar deals that, even though they mostly failed, produced huge up-front bonuses for him in Enron stock.
"It appears they took a lot of risk entering into these billion-dollar contacts where they weren't sure if they would ever make money on them — and that's to me, a house of cards," said Margaret Ceconni, a former sales manager at the energy company's subsidiary Enron Energy Services. She sent a five-page memo to then-Enron CEO Kenneth Lay on Aug. 28, saying the company had shifted losses to another division, thus making EES look as if it were still very profitable.
Pai unloaded his stock on a regular basis, when few knew the company was headed for big trouble.
"The people that work and play by the rules are paying the price, so that these people can get fabulously wealthy," said Ranier.
His lawyer says everything Pai did was legal. Pai himself told ABCNEWS today he had no regrets about making so much money from the now-bankrupt company. "I'm not feeling anything," he said.
The Strip Story
Former employees say Pai was among several top Enron executives who were well known for entertaining clients and fellow employees at a top Houston strip club where he met his current wife.
Pai says much of his money went for his divorce and denied reports he was reprimanded for bringing strippers into the Enron headquarters.
"That is absolutely false," he said.
In addition to his home, Pai owns at least two ranches, including an 80-acre horse farm south of Houston called Canaan. There the Pais breed German show horses, including one horse named Pay'n Go and another named Gucci.
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