Bethany McLean Net Worth

What is Bethany McLean's net worth?

Bethany McLean is an American journalist and author who has a net worth of $3 million. Bethany McLean is known for her work in investigative reporting and financial writing. She gained prominence in the early 2000s for her role in exposing the Enron scandal.

Is Enron Overpriced?

Bethany McLean was born in Hibbing, Minnesota, on December 12, 1977. She went from Hibbing High School, graduating in 1988, then went on to Williams College where in 1992 she graduated with a B.A. in English and mathematics.

McLean began her career at Goldman Sachs as an investment banking analyst, but in 1995, she joined Fortune magazine as a reporter. She would go on to work there for over a decade. Her breakthrough came in 2001 when she wrote an article questioning Enron's accounting practices and high stock valuation. This piece, titled "Is Enron Overpriced?", was one of the first to cast doubt on the company's financial health, predating its collapse later that year.

Smartest Guys in the Room

Following the Enron scandal, McLean co-authored the book "The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron" with her Fortune colleague Peter Elkind. Published in 2003, the book became a bestseller and was later adapted into an Academy Award-nominated documentary. The book detailed the inner workings of Enron as it grew from a sleeping energy supplier into one of the 10 largest companies in America, thanks largely to accounting shenanigans, under the leadership of Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, Andrew Fastow, and Lou Pai. In her reporting, Bethany dug up many unbelievable details, including the story of Enron executive Lou Pai, whose affair with a stripper ended his marriage but allowed him to sell $300 million worth of Enron stock just months before the company went bankrupt.

Vanity Fair & Other Books

In 2008, McLean joined Vanity Fair as a contributing editor. She continued to cover major financial stories, including the 2008 financial crisis. This led to her co-authoring another book, "All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis," with New York Times columnist Joe Nocera in 2010.

McLean has also written "Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants" (2015) about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and "Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It's Changing the World" (2018).

Throughout her career, McLean has contributed to various publications and made frequent appearances on television news programs as a financial expert. Her work has earned her a reputation as a thorough investigative journalist with a talent for explaining complex financial issues to a general audience.

Personal Life

Bethany was married to Chris Wilford from 2000 to 2006. In May 2008, she married an attorney named Sean Berkowitz. He was one of the lead prosecutors for the Justice Department in their case against Enron executives Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay. They divorced in 2020.