John Griffith

John H. Griffith was a natural gas options trader at Enron North America (ENA) and Enron Wholesale Services (EWS), working within the Global Trading Financial Trading group in Houston from approximately late 2000 through early 2002. He specialized in energy derivatives trading, volatility analysis, and supported Volumetric Production Payment (VPP) deal structures. His work required close coordination with external futures brokers, particularly Carr Futures in Chicago, and internal trading teams across Enron’s commodities operations.

Griffith’s email archive in the Enron corpus contains 3,918 messages from 383 unique senders, spanning November 2000 through February 2002. This correspondence documents his daily work on the natural gas options desk, his involvement in volatility modeling projects, and his exposure to various financing transactions including the Mahonia prepay deals that later became central to investigations of Enron’s accounting practices.

Career at Enron

Position and Responsibilities

Griffith joined Enron’s natural gas options trading desk around November 2000, based on the start of his email activity in the corpus. His role was demanding and required long hours. In a March 2001 email to a personal contact, he described his work life candidly: “I am now trading natural gas options here at Enron. I have been really busy. I get into work around 6:15 and work until about 6 on the evening. I don’t even leave my desk for lunch. They bring it to me.”

His organizational placement within the Global Trading Financial Trading group is confirmed by internal file paths that appear in his correspondence, specifically references to directories at “O:\GlobalTrading\Financial\Trading\Historicals\History.xls” that were used for maintaining trading records. This group was part of Enron’s wholesale energy trading operations, one of the company’s core profit centers during its growth years.

While Griffith’s exact title is never explicitly stated in his email correspondence, evidence suggests he held a senior position within the trading operation. He was included in Enron’s Performance Evaluation Process (PEP) as a feedback provider for multiple team members, including David Mayeux, Bilal Bajwa, Sanjeev Gupta, Xiaojun Huan, Karima Husain, Errol McLaughlin Jr., Agustin Perez, and Joseph Taylor. This supervisory responsibility indicates he was more than an entry-level trader. Additionally, a February 2002 email confirming Stack Manager trading system access listed Griffith alongside senior traders such as Tim Belden, Phillip K. Allen, Dutch Quigley, and Larry May.

Despite these indicators of seniority, Griffith was not among the employees named in the January 2001 Vice President and Managing Director elections announcement, suggesting he held a senior analyst or trader role below the VP level.

Professional Network

Griffith’s signature terms from his email corpus reveal his professional focus with unusual precision. The volume-adjusted analysis shows he was the dominant owner of terms including “wacker” (34.47), “soblander” (29.16), “carrfut” (21.56), “carr” (19.5), “heat” (9.21), “crude” (5.88), “futures” (4.49), “chicago” (4.46), and “strike” (4.15). These terms directly reflect his work with Carr Futures, the Chicago-based futures brokerage located at 150 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 1500. “Soblander” refers to Steve Oblander, a Carr Futures employee who was Griffith’s primary external contact for energy market research and analysis.

Within Enron, Griffith worked most closely with the natural gas and energy options trading team. His internal correspondence patterns show regular communication with Mike Maggi, Dutch Quigley, and Larry May, all senior traders in the energy commodities operation. He also maintained regular contact with George Weissman on VPP deals and Michael Garberding on financing transactions.

Natural Gas Options Trading

Griffith’s primary responsibility was trading natural gas options, a core activity within Enron’s derivatives business. Options trading on natural gas futures requires sophisticated understanding of volatility dynamics, strike price selection, and market timing. The natural gas options desk received daily straddle updates from SCS Commodities covering not only natural gas options but also crude oil, heating oil, and gasoline straddles. These reports were essential for implementing volatility-based trading strategies.

The demands of this work were intense. Griffith’s email activity peaked in May 2001, when he sent or received 840 messages in a single month, nearly three times his typical volume. This peak likely corresponded to increased market volatility or trading activity during that period. His second-highest activity month was October 2001 (499 emails), which coincided with the beginning of Enron’s final crisis period.

Volatility Skew Project

One of Griffith’s notable projects was involvement in developing volatility skew modeling capabilities for PortCalc, Enron’s portfolio calculation system. Volatility skew refers to the pattern where implied volatility varies across different strike prices for options with the same expiration date. Modeling this skew accurately was crucial for pricing and risk management of Enron’s options positions.

A March 2001 email from Dutch Quigley and Jeremy Wong outlined the project’s scope: “We have Dave Wei working on the PortCalc change and Margie Nguyen working on the Excel to fetch/save the vol. skew matrix.” Griffith’s participation in the Skew Project, which generated 38 conversation threads in his email corpus, demonstrates his technical engagement with quantitative aspects of options trading beyond simple execution.

VPP Deals and Structured Finance

Griffith was involved in supporting Volumetric Production Payment (VPP) transactions, a type of structured finance arrangement used in the energy industry. VPPs allow energy companies to monetize future production by selling a specified volume of future output to a counterparty in exchange for upfront payment. These deals required coordination between trading desks, which would manage the physical commodity flows, and finance teams, which structured the financial arrangements.

In December 2000, George Weissman informed Griffith and others about a VPP arrangement with St. Mary’s Production LLC: “ECT Merchant Investments Corp. has entered into a Volumetric Production Payment agreement with St. Mary’s Production LLC… ECT Merchant Investments Corp. has arranged for the Enron North America Upstream Wellhead Desk to manage the sale, nomination and transport of this production.” Similar arrangements were structured with Cabot Oil & Gas Marketing Corporation, which appears in 30 conversation threads in Griffith’s correspondence.

Griffith was also involved in embedded financing transactions through Enron’s Expedited DASH (Deal Approval Sheet) process. In January 2001, Frank Hayden wrote to him: “John, Thanks for stopping by. For pre-paids and the like we have an expediated DASH process. Since the counterparty is National Steel, we will need to get credit involved.” This indicates Griffith’s work extended beyond pure trading into deal structuring that required credit approval.

Mahonia Prepay Transactions

Perhaps the most significant aspect of Griffith’s correspondence, from a historical perspective, is his inclusion on communications about the Mahonia prepay transactions. The Mahonia deals were later identified by regulators and prosecutors as fraudulent financing arrangements that Enron used to disguise loans as commodity trading revenue.

In December 2000, Michael Garberding sent an email to Mary Lynne Ruffer with Griffith copied, providing detailed financial information about a prepay transaction scheduled to close with Chase and Fleet banks.

The email also detailed the difference between LIBOR rates and Enron’s cost of funds ($5,131,161) and the total difference between the deal and LIBOR ($7,622,834). This level of financial detail indicates that recipients of these emails, including Griffith, had visibility into the mechanics of these financing structures.

Griffith’s involvement appears to have been peripheral rather than central. He was copied on these communications, suggesting awareness at a working level rather than decision-making authority over the transactions. The Mahonia/Stoneville Prepay thread appears in 11 conversation topics in his email corpus. Whether his knowledge of these arrangements was understood by him to be problematic is unclear from the available evidence.

Key Correspondents

Griffith’s email patterns reveal his professional network and the information flows that supported his trading activities. His external correspondence was dominated by his relationship with Carr Futures.

The heavy volume of correspondence with Steve Oblander at Carr Futures ([email protected]) reflects the importance of external market intelligence to Griffith’s trading activities. Carr Futures, located at 150 S. Wacker Drive in Chicago, provided energy market research and execution services. The firm was later merged into Credit Agricole’s futures operations.

Griffith’s FX Daily Technical Analysis conversations (27 threads) suggest he also monitored currency markets, which would be relevant for trading energy commodities with international price exposure.

Email Activity Patterns

Griffith’s email volume followed a distinct pattern that reflected both his career trajectory at Enron and external market conditions.

The absence of email activity before November 2000 suggests Griffith may have joined Enron’s trading group around that time, possibly bringing experience from the futures industry given his established relationship with Carr Futures in Chicago.

Personal Notes

A March 2001 email to a personal contact provides a rare glimpse into Griffith’s perspective on his career during Enron’s peak period. After describing his grueling work schedule, he added with evident satisfaction: “My job is going really well (promotion, big bonus, company ferrarri….). Just kidding about the car. But really everything is going well.”

The reference to a promotion and bonus, while delivered with humor, reflects the compensation culture at Enron during its growth years. Traders who performed well were rewarded generously, creating strong incentives for the aggressive risk-taking that characterized the company’s trading operations.

Griffith’s Continental Airlines Silver Elite status, achieved in February 2001, indicates he traveled for work, likely to Chicago to meet with Carr Futures contacts or to other Enron offices.

Legal Status

No Department of Justice records have been found for John Griffith in connection with Enron-related prosecutions. Similarly, no SEC filings specifically mention John Griffith. While he was copied on communications about the Mahonia prepay transactions that became subjects of legal scrutiny, his peripheral role as a trading desk employee rather than a principal in structuring these deals apparently did not result in any formal legal action.

See Also

• Dutch Quigley - Senior trader and Skew Project collaborator
• Tim Belden - Fellow Stack Manager trader list member
• Phillip K. Allen - Fellow Stack Manager trader list member
• Prepay Transactions - Fraudulent financing structures Griffith had visibility into

References

This article is based on John Griffith’s email archive in the Enron corpus, which contains 3,918 messages from 383 unique senders spanning November 2000 through February 2002. Secondary source verification was conducted through DOJ and SEC records, which returned no findings specific to Griffith.