Lou Pai Net Worth: Lou Pai is a Chinese-American businessman and mathematical genius who has a net worth of $270 million. Lou Pai earned his net worth by being the CEO of Enron Energy Services and Enron Xcelerator a venture capital division of Enron. Pai was born in Nanjing, China in 1946. He obtained his Bachelor's Degree and Masters Degree in economics from the University of Maryland. Pai is currently referred to as "the invisible CEO".
Pai joined Enron in 1987 when it was only a regional supplier and became one of (eventual) CEO Jeffrey Skilling's top lieutenants. He went on to reign as CEO of the EES (Enron Energy Services) from 1997 to 2001. Pai left Enron very suddenly in 2001 for reasons that were never fully confirmed. Though married at the time, Pai was known to spend inordinate amounts of time during and after work in Houston-area strip clubs. He also used Enron's corporate jet for personal commuting and charged hundreds of dollars worth of lunches for himself and accompanying staff to the company. His frequent trips to strip clubs culminated in an affair with a married erotic dancer, which resulted in a pregnancy. When Pai's wife learned of the affair, she filed for divorce.
Amazingly, Pai's affinity for strippers and abusing corporate expense accounts actually is a big reason why he was able to walk away with such a large fortune. He also never served a moment of jail time. After being forced out of the company in 2001, Pai proceeded to sell off his entire stake of Enron stock. He dumped the shares essentially at the all time peak of Enron's market value. This resulted in a $250 million windfall for Pai.
Money he still has today and was untouchable years later when the company imploded. Pai was eventually brought up on some insider trading charges,. He settled those charges in July 2008 when he agreed to an out-of-court settlement that reportedly included a $6 million fine. In addition, he was barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company until 2013. Upon leaving Texas in the early 2000s, Pai became the second largest land owner in Colorado when he purchased a 77,500-acre parcel named Taylor Ranch. He sold the property in 2005. Oh and he did end up marrying the exotic dancer he impregnated, Melanie Fewell, after the divorce from his first wife. Happy endings! Wait, we may need to re-phrase that.
