HOUSTON—Former Enron Corp. Chief Executive and felon Jeffrey Skilling is looking to get back into the energy business after serving more than 12 years in prison for his role in one of the biggest corporate scandals in history.

Just weeks after being released from federal custody following his 2006 conviction on fraud, conspiracy and insider-trading charges, Mr. Skilling has been holding meetings with former Enron executives and others, hoping to win backing for a new energy venture, people familiar with the matter said.

...</s>Former Enron Corp. Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling is looking to get back into the energy business, with a little help from his friends.

Just weeks after serving more than 12 years in federal custody on fraud, conspiracy and insider-trading convictions following Enron's fall, Mr. Skilling has been holding meetings with former Enron executives and others, hoping to win backing for a new energy venture, people familiar with the matter said.

At least one former colleague has agreed to support Mr. Skilling's comeback attempt: Lou L. Pai, the onetime head of Enron's energy- services unit, has pledged to invest in the venture and indicated to others he is involved with Mr. Skilling, the people said. A person familiar with Mr. Pai's thinking said Mr. Pai was re-introducing Mr. Skilling to the business community as a friendly courtesy.

Messrs. Skilling and Pai declined to comment through a representative.

The exact nature of the project is something of a mystery, with the people briefed saying it was at an early stage. Some of those who have met with Mr. Skilling have signed nondisclosure agreements, the people said. Several described it as a digital platform connecting investors to oil and gas projects.

Mr. Skilling has met with individuals who specialize in cryptocurrency, blockchain and software development in recent weeks, two of the people said.

He would be re-entering the world of energy finance at a time when some oil and gas producers have been having trouble securing backing. In 2018, new bond and equity deals for the sector dwindled to the lowest level since 2007.

A former McKinsey & Co. consultant, Mr. Skilling, 65, helped Enron pioneer a structure known as the "Gas Bank" to buy gas from producers and sell it to large customers, seizing on the opportunity created by the federal government's deregulation of gas markets. He then joined the company in 1990 to run that venture.

Mr. Skilling earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1979, graduating in the top 5% of his class. Before his trial and conviction, he was known as a formidably intelligent and aggressive visionary who transformed Enron into one of the nation's most competitive workplaces.

In February 2001, he became Enron's CEO, only to resign about six months later. Before the end of the year, the once highflying conglomerate had sought bankruptcy protection amid growing questions about its accounting practices, in one of the most spectacular corporate collapses in American history.

The Enron scandal led to dozens of indictments, and the collapse of accounting firm Arthur Andersen. It also upended much of the U.S. energy-trading business for years and prompted tighter corporate governance and reporting requirements, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Mr. Skilling, who was convicted in 2006 of lying to investors about Enron's financial health and sentenced to 24 years in prison, has consistently maintained his innocence. He reached an agreement with prosecutors in 2013 to drop his appeals if they recommended a lighter sentence.

It is unclear how much Mr. Skilling retained of the money he made at Enron, which topped $100 million, according to court documents. Under his conviction, he was ordered to pay about $42 million in restitution and court filings show he spent more than $20 million on his legal defense. As part of a separate SEC judgment, Mr. Skilling is permanently barred from serving as an officer or director of a publicly held company.

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Mr. Skilling began thinking about his next business venture while serving time in an Alabama prison camp, and was already taking meetings on the project while serving six months at a Texas halfway house before he fully regained his freedom last month, two people who have met with him said.

He is now back in Houston and working out of an office near the city's exclusive River Oaks neighborhood, home to some of the energy world's richest executives. He has met with more than two dozen former Enron executives, according to one person who had seen Mr. Skilling, who added that the former CEO has been encouraged by what he viewed as a warm reception.

Among them is Mr. Pai, who resigned from Enron in June 2001 after selling hundreds of millions of dollars of stock to meet a divorce settlement. Enron's stock averaged around $54 a share at the time of some of Mr. Pai's sales in the spring 2001; it was worth just 40 cents by Dec. 3, 2001, a day after the company filed for bankruptcy.

Mr. Pai agreed to a $31.5 million settlement to resolve civil insider-trading charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2008. Under the settlement, he didn't admit or deny the SEC's assertion that he avoided huge losses by selling nearly a million shares of Enron stock, knowing nonpublic information about financial troubles affecting an Enron division he previously headed.

After leaving Enron, Mr. Pai was a silent backer of Element Markets LLC, a Houston-area firm prominent in brokering pollution-emission credits. The company said he is no longer involved.

Mr. Pai remained close with Mr. Skilling following Enron's collapse and spoke to Mr. Skilling throughout his time in prison, said two people briefed on Mr. Skilling's plans.</s>Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling is looking at ways to return to the energy business, according to two sources familiar with his activities. Among the ventures he is considering is an idea he came up with in 2015 — and put to paper — while serving a federal prison sentence for his role in Enron's 2001 collapse.

Skilling, 65, completed that sentence last month, and has been meeting with friends and former colleagues since his release into a residential re-entry program in Houston last August. News of his possible return to the industry was first reported Friday by the Wall Street Journal.

The sources described Skilling's idea, broadly, as a software program for oil and gas investors. They stressed that the project is in its early stages. No investors have put any money into the venture, though some individuals who provided input have been required to sign non-disclosure agreements. Skilling developed the idea as an inmate at a federal correctional facility in Montgomery, Alabama, and apparently worried for the rest of his sentence that someone else would come up with the idea before he got out.

Among those Skilling has been discussing his ideas with, the sources said, is Lou Pai, the former head of Enron's Energy Services division, now an industry consultant. Pai could not be reached for a comment.

Contrary to other reporting, the sources told CNBC that the venture does not involve cryptocurrency or blockchain technology. And they said it is one of a number of paths Skilling is considering in hopes of returning to the industry he knows best.</s>(Reuters) - Former Enron Corp Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling has been holding meetings with former Enron executives and others, hoping to win backing for a new energy venture, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Former colleague Lou Pai, who once led Enron’s energy- services unit, has pledged to invest in the venture and indicated to others he is involved with Skilling, the report said.

People familiar with the matter told the Journal the venture is a digital platform connecting investors to oil and gas projects and is at an early stage.

Skilling resigned as chief executive officer of Enron in August 2001, just months before it filed for bankruptcy amid revelations of widespread accounting fraud and corruption.

He was arrested in 2004 and two years later convicted of 19 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, insider trading and lying to auditors.

Skilling was released from federal custody last month.</s>Former Enron Chief Executive Jeff Skilling is out of prison after 12 years. And he’s getting the old gang back together again.

Just when you thought the world of business couldn’t get more anymore ethically sound, and just when you thought you weren't going to get any more surefire signs of a market top, Jeff Skilling is recruiting his old friends and colleagues and "looking to get back in the energy business", according to a WSJ report.

But that isn’t even the best part - according to the report, Skilling has already landed an investment from former Enron executive and local strip club rewards member Lou Pai who, after selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Enron stock before the company collapsed, somehow avoided jail time or any kind of major legal repercussions, outside of a paltry $31.5 million settlement.

Pai was formerly the head of Enron's energy services unit and has already pledged to invest in the venture. Pai is reportedly reintroducing Skilling to the business world as a "friendly courtesy" after remaining in touch with Skilling following Enron’s demise and speaking to him while he was in prison, the report says.





 Skilling's new project is said to be a digital platform that connects investors to oil and gas projects. Skilling has also reportedly met with individuals who specialize in cryptocurrency and blockchain because - well, because of course he has.

As the WSJ notes, the exact nature of the project is "something of a mystery", with the people briefed saying it was at an early stage. What is known, and probably will not come as a surprise considering Skilling's background, he "has met with individuals who specialize in cryptocurrency, blockchain and software development in recent weeks."

Perhaps Skilling is hoping to hold California electricity as ransom in exchange for a bitcoin payment made to an unknown address?

But we digress. The former Enron executive is situated in a new office in Houston and nondisclosure agreements have been signed between him and potential partners in his new project. Skilling is said to have began working on his new project while serving six months at a Texas halfway house, before being set free again. He has met with more than two dozen former Enron executives, according to the report, which says he has been met with a "warm reception".

As part of a judgement with the SEC, Skilling is permanently barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company. Pai, who was referred to as "the invisible CEO" in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room has no such bar.

We’re sure that bankers, hedge funds and anybody else who can be complicit in this new venture are eager to line up and collect their fees from what is likely going to be a "disruptive" presence in the energy industry. We can't wait to see how it turns out.
The Wall Street Journal reports that former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, released from prison in February after serving 12 years for fraud and insider trading following Enron's 2001 collapse, is planning a return to the energy business, helming a "digital platform connecting investors to oil and gas projects".