John Arnold, Hedge Fund Manager And Former Enron Trader, Retires At 38 Years Old With $3.5 Billion

Most of us would feel lucky to have the means to retire at 38. Now imagine retiring at that ripe old age with $3.5 billion in the bank.

That's the true story of former star Enron trader John Arnold, who most recently worked as a hedge fund manager. He’s decided to shut down his firm Centaurus Advisors and return investor money, retiring at the ripe old age of 38, according to The New York Times. Arnold rose to prominence at now disgraced Enron for his natural gas trading prowess. After avoiding accusations of wrongdoing during the firm’s accounting scandal, Arnold went on to net triple digit returns with Centaurus Advisors, which he started in 2002. Now worth an estimated $3.5 billion, he’s one of the wealthiest hedge fund managers in the U.S., according to Forbes (h/t The Daily Mail).

Arnold wrote to investors that he was bowing out to “pursue other interests,” according to The Daily Mail. Past hedge fund managers who’ve shuttered their businesses, however, have done so for a variety of reasons, including the requirement that they register their firm with the SEC, the NYT reports.

Billionaire George Soros cited new regulations when he announced last July that he would no longer be managing anybody else's money but his own. Activist investor Carl Icahn took a similar action, while less famous hedge fund managers Chris Shumway, Stanley Druckenmiller and Pierre Andurand have all decided the new regulations aren’t worth keeping outside investors around.

Quitting work over some new rules, however, isn't a luxury most American have. In March, the confidence Americans have in their ability to retire hit a two-decade low. Even some members of the 1 percent are afraid they'll be working till their dying day.

Arnold will join a number of former Enron colleagues who are no longer working, albeit for very different reasons. Former CEO Jeffrey Skilling will continue to serve a 24-year federal prison sentence after losing an appeal last month on charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Andrew Fastow, Rex Shelby and Richard Causey, all other Enron executives, have all spent time at a Houston halfway house, finishing out sentences of various lengths related to the scandal.

Comments

[kamact]

10:20 PM on 05/06/2012

Smells like a lucky white-collar criminal....

[luv2livzen]

01:18 AM on 05/07/2012

I agree!

[jrtcolumbus]

06:14 PM on 05/06/2012

good for him,,, obvious much smarter than the average poster here. he earned the money, paid the taxes,,, and for those folks who had monies invested with his fund - they too made money!! he triples figures the value of the 401 holding company he managed!! bet you wish some of your 401 was in his hands,,,

for sure, a highly talented man who thinks outside the box.

[luv2livzen]

12:27 AM on 05/07/2012

maybe, maybe not.

maybe he just didn't get caught!

[Rick2783]

05:56 PM on 05/06/2012

Nice.
Enron was awesome. True White collar crime at it's best.

[luv2livzen]

12:30 AM on 05/07/2012

Agree. I knew people who lost their jobs there when the house of cards fell. Since the books were cooked, there was no way they knew who to believe---Ken Lay, CEO, or the media coverage of the investigation.

Glad Skilling is still behind bars at least!

[deltalady]

03:10 PM on 05/06/2012

The face of pure evil, no morals, no respect....the finest example of modern day American capitalism. I'm sure the president is looking forward to having the same amount in the bank one day. After all, the 1st part of his presidency was spent giving in to his future bosses...the lovely gentlemen on Wall Street. And let's don't forget the military industrial complex...I bet those boys at XE are sitting on a pile of cash as well. When he had the opportunity to stand behind Elizabeth Warren, he kicked her to the curb. Nothing has changed in the way these guys do business, so what's to keep it from continuing? That's what the leadership of a Democractic presidency was supposed to provide us. Instead, we get a president who, in the last few months in search of campaign cash from what he thinks is the uninformed, loyally blind voter who trusted him the last time, speaking out against those bad old rich folks. It's all a joke and the American people have lost everything.

[BUSFREAK]

05:14 PM on 05/06/2012

Deltalady that was very well said.

[deltalady]

05:27 PM on 05/06/2012

thanks for you comment...I'm sure there will be a hundred gazillion more that will criticize me for speaking about the president this way. But I'm 57 years old now...I spent 8 years of watching everything I worked for slipping away and watching it almost completely disappear over the last 4 years. I can't wait years, much less decades, for things to change. I don't have a sense of humor about it, only hopelessness and sadness. So forgive me if I don't think the cuteness of the president at the Correspondents Dinner brightened my one bit. I don't recognize my Dem party any longer. The best to you....

[Ashanti]

03:08 PM on 05/06/2012

Now that I think about it, the scandal at Enron was really one of the first signs of what was happening to our economy overall ...

And remember how the Bush administration was scrambling to hurry up and get that story off the front page ... and the close ties between Bush and Kenny ... and Fox's defense of Enron ...

Hmmmm!

[martha high]

02:29 PM on 05/06/2012

thats the way to go, praise Captialism...all's fair when it comes to making the green back dollar,.another day, another million. love it . oh but that's not counting the 99% oops.

[bc906]

12:37 PM on 05/06/2012

he knows the market is going to collapse soon

[authorized-user]

10:07 AM on 05/06/2012

This is the best argument for the FDR 90% tax rate on millionaires.
This guy did nothing to create jobs, add value to anything, or help the country.
All he did was add billions to the cost of energy and you pay every time you buy gas.
Right now, we are paying over 15% to our speculators, that's $.60 a gallon.
I can hardly wait to see what other commodity bubbles he can generate while he pursues other interests.

[molare88]

05:24 PM on 05/06/2012

you are just an imbecile green with envy

[authorized-user]

08:17 AM on 05/07/2012

Keep sending him your green when you buy your Exxon gas.

[jrtcolumbus]

06:16 PM on 05/06/2012

did nothing for the 401k holders in his fund, they seem very happy, i am!

[authorized-user]

08:19 AM on 05/07/2012

How much did he return to the investors when he shut down his fund?

[Joster GG]

10:55 PM on 05/05/2012

Enron...every man who worked at Enron was a crook. Of course its inside info. of course. The average guy who is out there working his body into an early grave wil be lucky to ever get to retire. This hedge fund manager is the kind the Republicans worship and want to give more tax cuts too.

[ewrug]

08:11 AM on 05/06/2012

This post is based on Ignorance and Arrogance. Every Man?
What about the employees who worked hard and lost everything? What about the millions in Pension funds invested by state governments and can’t be recouped. This type of fraud isn’t restricted to party lines, Such as Whitewater the Clintons where involved in. Or Solyndra Obama Admin had funded then shut down. These types of fraud are handled by the SEC and should be handled with extreme prejudice.
"Libs run dont walk for the exits"

[Joster GG]

11:47 AM on 05/06/2012

No..not every man only the ones at the top.

[lonbwoy]

12:22 PM on 05/08/2012

"every man who worked at Enron was a crook."

You do know that Paul Krugman worked for enron too right??, is he a crook??.

[Joster GG]

12:50 PM on 05/08/2012

I don't know...is he?

[Clayton139]

08:16 PM on 05/05/2012

Inside Information ?

[Vapula]

04:38 PM on 05/05/2012

So crime does pay.

[Clayton139]

08:25 PM on 05/05/2012

Yes, look at our Greedy Corporations, Wall Street, Koch Brothers buying Politicians, Koch Brothers get Politicians elected with False (Advertising) Yes, Advertising like a loaf of bread in the local media's.....

[ewrug]

07:51 AM on 05/06/2012

Yeah this can be said for both sides of the isle. You dont give equal billing to Goerge Soros, who by the way has supported Obama directly. Also George has bought into liberal state sponsored left winged liberal raido, again to change the minset of the listners to the Obama- liberal agaenda. And the biggest winner is George,not the Amercian people who are under attack by all forms of media and Oopps here comes another commercial holiday your supposed to buy for.
PS, corporation would nt be so greedy if we had a lerader and government that could actually deliver a plan of action. Not this doublemindness.

[luv2livzen]

01:09 AM on 05/07/2012

The Koch Bros. are leaders in the powerful group ALEC---American Legislative Exchange Council. Members: Corporations, & TeaGOP Politicians. Priorities: Corporations & the 1% Only. NOTHING for the 99% who they detest!

They want to eliminate: the EPA, FDA & OSHA (interferes with making $$$), Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Unemployment, Collective bargaining/ Unions, Minimum wage, Worker rights, & safety laws, Fair wages, ANY help for the needy/ poor. Many people go broke when they become terminally ill or have unbelievably high medical bills PLUS can't work. They Need a safety net!

Info/ Facts: *** AlecExposed.org *** and ** GodsOwnParty.com **--has blog, too.

[the truth leans left]

07:08 AM on 05/06/2012

seems laws, along with taxes, are for the "little people" .

[luv2livzen]

01:10 AM on 05/07/2012

F&F

[rudy in la]

02:37 PM on 05/05/2012

He earned his money within the law ( I assume ) so I can't fault him for being wealthy. Assuming he, his cohorts and family blows a good portion of his wealth on consumer goods and services, it's employing peopl in certain industies and professions so that's worth something I suppose. Whatever.

[manfredtheteach]

04:11 AM on 05/05/2012

He must be more creative than George Lucas. Lucas has only $3 billion after 35 years of making excellent movies!

[Kai-HK]

02:43 AM on 05/05/2012

Expect to see more of this as America's investment, tax and regulatory environment becomes increasingly uncompetitive relative to the rest of the world. Those that have made enough will quit and those that haven't will move their operations offshore taking the tax, economic activity, and jobs they create with them. This is a loss for America.

[mimseyme]

12:46 PM on 05/05/2012

Shuffling money around from one account to another does not create jobs. You must be kidding right?

[Kai-HK]

08:55 AM on 05/06/2012

Sure it does....Warren Buffet transfers money from his accounts to other accounts every day...and many people work because he makes those transfers. Other people do the same to varying degrees...

[luv2livzen]

01:16 AM on 05/07/2012

Lack of regulations, & lack of oversight & enforcement got us into this crisis.

The TeaGOP House refuses to put regulations back on banks/ Wall St. (Bush de-regulated) Banks became too big to fail & still are. Not all are stable/ secure.

The 1% have the laws written/ stacked in their favor, which is common knowledge. OWS points this out, too. Ex) Congress can Legally do Insider Trading. Obama asked them to write/ pass a law changing that. GOP House refuses.

[Kai-HK]

02:01 AM on 05/07/2012

Luv2livzen:

You state, ‘Lack of regulations, & lack of oversight & enforcement got us into this crisis.’

Really? How so? What lack of regulation would have prevented the housing and follow-on financial crisis? The housing crisis was caused by cheap Fed credit kept to cheap and too easy for too long, combined with BAD regulations and intervention in the markets by Congress, Freddie and Fannie. What regulation would have helped with that?

You then go on, ‘TeaGOP House refuses to put regulations back on banks/ Wall St. (Bush de-regulated) Banks became too big to fail & still are’

Hahahaha. This shows your facile understanding of the crisis. Regulation under Bush went up, specifically Sarbanes-Oxley. Glass-Steagall was repealed under Clinton. Regardless, what regulation that existed when Clinton was in office would have prevented the Housing Crisis? Since derivatives, mortgage, subprime, etc all existed prior to the repeal of Glass-Steagall.

You continue, ‘The 1% have the laws written/ stacked in their favor, which is common knowledge.’


Yeah? Which ones?

You continue, ‘Congress can Legally do Insider Trading. Obama asked them to write/ pass a law changing that. GOP House refuses.’

That is not a problem with the 1%, most of whom are simply business owners, doctors, lawyers, retired, etc, but rather problem with an entrenched political class. Take your anger out on them, not the 1%.

Kai

[mangez merde]

02:23 AM on 05/05/2012

$3.8 Billion.

If Romney gets elected, this guy won't have enough to buy a loaf of bread.