Ex-Enron boss Jeffrey Skilling eyes launch of new energy project

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Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling is looking for investors for his new energy venture, just weeks after his release from prison.

Skilling has been meeting with former Enron executives in a bid to find backers for a new digital platform that would connect investors to oil and gas projects, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Ex-Enron executive Lou Pai, who led the firm’s energy services unit, has already pledged to invest in the project, according to the report.

Sources told the newspaper the venture is in its early stages, while previous reports the project involves blockchain or cryptocurrency have since been dismissed.

Skilling developed the idea for the new project while serving his sentence in a prison in Alabama, and worried someone else would come up with his idea before he got out, according to CNBC.

The former energy chief was released from prison in February after serving 12 years behind bars for his role in one of the largest corporate scandals in history.

Enron collapsed in 2001, leading to the roughly 4,000 job losses, following revelations of widespread accounting fraud and corruption.

Skilling, who resigned as chief executive months before Enron filed for bankruptcy, was convicted on 19 charges including conspiracy and insider trading and was sentenced to 24 years in prison.

In 2013 Skilling secured a deal to reduce his sentence to 14 years in exchange for dropping his remaining appeals.