But the most poisonous explanation for the mad rush to do deals was money, not the money Enron would make but the money the developers would make. What one former international executive calls the “fatal flaw” in the business was the compensation structure. Developers got bonuses on a project-by-project basis. The developers would calculate the present value of all the expected future cash flow from a project. This was also the model the banks used to lend money. When the project reached financial close—that is, when the banks lent money but before a single pipe was laid or foundation was
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