Jordan H. Mintz was the former Managing Director for Corporate Tax at

Enron Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. ...

and a whistleblower during the

Enron scandal The Enron scandal was an accounting scandal involving Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. Upon being publicized in October 2001, the company declared bankruptcy and its accounting firm, Arthur Andersen then on ...

Early life and education

Mintz holds an LL.M. degree from New York University School of Law, a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, and a B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Career

Mintz began working at Enron in 1997, where he started as Vice President for Tax at Enron North America, formerly Enron Capital and Trade. He was Vice President and General Counsel for Enron Global Finance from October 2000 until November 2001. He now works at

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP () (KMEP) is a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, Inc. The company, which is classified as an oil and gas master limited partnership (MLP), owns or operates petroleum product, natural gas, and carbon dioxide pipelines, r ...

as Vice President and Chief Tax Officer.Kinder Morgan: Jordan Mintz
/ref> He has also served as Senior Vice President for Tax at Centex (now

PulteGroup PulteGroup, Inc. is an American residential home construction company based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The company is the 3rd largest home construction company in the United States based on the number of homes closed. In total, the compa ...

), as a partner at Bracewell and as Senior Tax Attorney at

Exxon Corporation ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30 ...

Role as an Enron whistleblower

Upon moving to the Finance Department, Mintz recognized many problems at Enron and "took matters into his own hands," hiring outside legal counsel to evaluate Enron's business practices. Mintz was also known for writing a memo to

Andrew Fastow Andrew Stuart "Andy" Fastow (born December 22, 1961) is a convicted felon and former financier who was the chief financial officer of Enron Corporation, an energy trading company based in Houston, Texas, until he was fired shortly before the com ...

, the

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

of Enron in 2000, concerning some "sweetheart" deals in favor of Mr. Fastow three months before

Sherron Watkins Sherron Watkins (born August 28, 1959) is an American former Vice President of Corporate Development at the Enron Corporation. Watkins was called to testify before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate at the beginning of 2002, ...

wrote her memo, raising red flags about the growing number of improperly leveraged partnerships. In addition to expressing his concerns with Enron's business practices, he also proposed many solutions to fix the problems. In 2002, Mintz testified before Congress, explaining that he tried in vain to ensure that Enron's deals were properly vetted by all necessary executives — including former CEO Jeff Skilling.

SEC issues

On March 28, 2007, the U.S.

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

(SEC) filed a civil complaint against Mintz, claiming that he participated in fraud in 2001 by arranging murky disclosures of Enron's repurchase of a money-losing Brazilian power plant from a partnership run by former finance chief Andrew Fastow. Mintz's lawyer, Christopher Mead of Washington, said that Mintz will fight the charges vigorously, reminding reporters: "If you can find anyone at Enron who did more to regulate the relationship between Andy Fastow and Enron, please let me know who that is." This complaint by the SEC came as a surprise, since Mintz was praised as a whistleblower and even considered a "hero" by followers of the Enron scandal. In 2009, Mintz resolved these charges, admitting no wrongdoing. As part of this resolution, he was banned from practicing securities law for two years and paid $25,000 civil fines and $1 in disgorgement. In 2011, he was allowed to practice securities law again.

Personal life

Mintz has five children: Evan, Ally, Andrew, Nicky, and Emery. Evan was a 2017 Pulitzer finalist for editorial writing at the Houston Chronicle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mintz, Jordan American energy industry executives American whistleblowers Enron people Living people Kinder Morgan Boston University School of Law alumni New York University School of Law alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni 21st-century American businesspeople 1956 births