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News > Companies
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Ex-Enron men bare it all
Five former employees to appear in Playgirl October issue; Playboy to feature women in August.
May 20, 2002: 6:31 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The former men of Enron Corp., the bankrupt energy company which is under federal investigation for shifty accounting, are getting another chance for public exposure, and five will be featured in Playgirl magazine later this year.

The issue proves that the men of Enron may have lost their stock options but they still have their assets.

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"Enron made me bare it all," said Mark Zebrowitz, who worked as a production manger for Enron Oil & Gas in India. "That's all they left me with."

Zebrowitz and four of his former Enron co-workers left nothing undisclosed when they went before Playgirl's cameras during a day-long photo shoot on Sunday

Playboy magazine is featuring the women of Enron in its August issue. Playboy, the flagship publication of Playboy Enterprises (PLA: Research, Estimates), announced a search for Enron models in late March. The Playboy issue will hit the stores in late July, a spokesman said.

The two magazines are not related.

The Playgirl issue, which is published by Playgirl Inc., will be available in stores in September.

Payment

Houston-based Enron allegedly used thousands of questionable partnerships to hide nearly $1 billion in debt and inflate profits. Enron, once the nation's seventh-biggest company, filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history on Dec. 2.

The bankruptcy cost thousands of Enron employees their jobs. But the five Enron men will receive some monetary compensation for their Playgirl spread.

The men of Enron photo shoot  
The men of Enron photo shoot

Playgirl received pictures from about 35 men vying for the role and whittled down the competitors to the present five. All five were laid off by Enron but one is now back to work for the energy company on a contract basis, magazine editor Michele Zipp said.

The employees will not appear next to Enron's famous "E" that stands in front of the company's Houston offices. Instead, the men will be featured in a mock Enron boardroom in various stages of undress, magazine spokeswoman Michelle Simms told CNN/Money.

Playgirl offered the men "more money than they made on their stock options," Zipp said outside the photo shoot. She wouldn't reveal exactly how much the magazine paid the men.

Ronald Williams, who worked for Enron's broadband unit in Houston, said the money the magazine offered was enough to influence his decision to strip.

"It's more than my severance," he said of the $5,600 in severance pay many Enron employees complained they never received. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime situation, so I decided to go for it when I was chosen."

Williams said he has no expectations or reservations about exposing himself. "The only thing I am hoping for is future employment without the Enron stigma," he said.  Top of page


--from staff and wire reports






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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.