THE CFO WHO BUILT A SECRET BUSINESS INSIDE HIS OWN COMPANY HOUSTON, TEXAS 1990s Jeffrey Skilling was one of the rising stars at Enron. He had helped transform the company from a traditional energy business into an aggressive energy-trading empire. And one of the people he brought into his inner circle was Andrew Fastow. Fastow was young, ambitious and brilliant with complicated financial structures. In 1998, he became Enron's Chief Financial Officer. From the outside, the two men looked like the perfect corporate partnership. Skilling pushed the business forward. Fastow engineered the finances behind it. But eventually, Fastow created something extraordinary. He began managing outside partnerships that also did business with Enron. And he had a personal financial interest in them. The conflict was hidden behind layers of corporate paperwork. The people running the company were no longer simply playing for Enron. Some were playing for themselves.