Lou Pai

Enron executive (born 1947)

Lou Lung Pai (born June 23, 1947) is a Chinese American businessman and former Enron executive. He was CEO of Enron subsidiaries Enron Energy Services and Enron Xcelerator, a venture capital division. for $23 million in 1999, though he sold the property in June 2004 for $60 million. Pai was not charged with any criminal wrongdoing in the Enron scandal and exercised his Fifth Amendment rights in regard to the subsequent Enron class action lawsuits. 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. Accounts of the Enron scandal have frequently portrayed him as a mysterious figure; a former Enron employee, interviewed in the 2005 documentary film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, referred to Pai as "the invisible CEO".

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, Pai worked for the federal government, primarily at the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in the 1970s before joining Enron.

Pai joined Enron in 1987, when it was just a regional energy supplier. He became one of (eventual) CEO Jeffrey Skilling's top lieutenants, primarily tasked with detailing and implementing Skilling's vision of transforming Enron into a de facto energy commodities trading firm. During his Enron career, Skilling put Pai in charge of multiple Enron subsidiaries. Pai was CEO of the EES (Enron Energy Services) subsidiary from March 1997 until May 2001. The reasons for his resignation from Enron remain shrouded in mystery.

Pai was a founder and is a former chairman of Element Markets, a renewable energy consulting firm. Through Element, Pai has invested in pollution emissions credits. Since then, Pai has emerged as a partner in Midstream Capital Partners LLC. 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.

Pai's frequent strip club visits during his time with Enron led to an affair with stripper Melanie Fewell (who was also married), and resulted in a pregnancy. Upon learning of the affair, Pai's then wife of over 20 years, Lanna Lee, with whom he has two biological children, filed for divorce. They later moved from Sugar Land, Texas, to Middleburg, Virginia, and opened a second Canaan Ranch there, but, as of 2014, it is up for sale. More recently, Pai and his family have moved to Wellington, Florida.