Skilling
Byryan Dezember, “Ruinous Wood-Pellet Trade Sparks Clash.” Wall Street Journal (August 28, 2026).
The fight for restitution is on at a fallen green-energy giant, following one of the most disastrous commodity trades of the decade.
The ill-fated wood-pellet trades that bankrupted Enviva during the sustainable-investing boom were made by executives hoping to trigger their own bonuses, according to creditors seeking more than $2 billion in damages.
Instead of producing big profits that would spur payouts for Enviva’s C-suite, however, the nine-figure trades backfired and bankrupted the company, which once had a nearly $6 billion market value. Shareholders received nothing in the bankruptcy, and some bondholders recovered just pennies on the dollar.
Five of the company’s top executives concealed the inordinately large and risky trades from its board, according to a lawsuit filed last week by investors, suppliers and others with claims outstanding after Enviva’s 2024 bankruptcy. “A board of directors cannot fulfill its duties if corporate officers withhold material information and act beyond the scope of their authority,” said Eric Madden, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
The allegations draw on findings from a seven-month board investigation into the trades that sent the country’s largest exporter of wood pellets spiraling toward insolvency. The board enlisted law firm Baker Botts, which determined that there were solid legal claims to be made against the executives, according to bankruptcy filings.
Lawyers representing the five former Enviva executives, including former Chief Executives John Keppler and Thomas Meth, either declined to comment or didn’t respond. Enviva said it wasn’t involved in the litigation, and none of the former executives named in the suit are affiliated with the reorganized company, which emerged from bankruptcy in December 2024 with new owners and leadership.
Enviva’s creditors are unlikely to recoup anything close to $2 billion. Recovery cases are fairly common following corporate bankruptcies and are typically settled without trial. Once legal fees are paid, creditors usually receive whatever is left of the company’s directors-and-officers liability insurance coverage.
of the winners of thegreen-energy boom, and demand for wood pellets was rising when it imploded.
Envivapioneeredthebusiness ofpressingsawdustinto
cylindricalcapsulesandship
ping boatloads of them to
overseaspowerplantslooking
toburnanalternativetocoal.
The company built pellet
plants across the Southern
U.S.,movingintopartsofthe
pinerywherepulpandpaper
millshadclosedand leftbe
hindsurfeitsofsawdust,wood
chipsandcheappulpwood.
The smokestackemissions
are comparable with those
fromburning coal. Nonethe
less, governments inEurope
andAsiasubsidizedwoodpel
letsasrenewableenergy.
Not only would another
cropoftreesbeplanted, they
reasoned, but thenewtrees
wouldabsorbcarbondioxide
fromtheatmosphereasthey
grew.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of
Ukraineshockedenergymar
ketsandboosteddemandfor
woodpellets,alongwithcoal,
naturalgasandanythingelse
thatcouldbeburnedtogener
ateelectricity.
At the time, Enviva was
dealingwithproblemsatsome
plantsthatmadeitdifficultto
fulfillobligationstocustomers.
Thecompanywas at risko
ofthewinnersofthegreen-energyboom, anddemand for
woodpelletswasrisingwhen
itimploded.
Envivapioneeredthebusi
nessofpressingsawdustinto
cylindricalcapsulesandship
ping boatloads of them to
overseaspowerplantslooking
toburnanalternativetocoal.
The company built pellet
plants across the Southern
U.S.,movingintopartsofthe
pinerywherepulpandpaper
millshadclosedand leftbe
hindsurfeitsofsawdust,wood
chipsandcheappulpwood.
The smokestackemissions
are comparable with those
fromburning coal. Nonethe
less, governments inEurope
andAsiasubsidizedwoodpel
letsasrenewableenergy.
Not only would another
cropoftreesbeplanted, they
reasoned, but thenewtrees
wouldabsorbcarbondioxide
fromtheatmosphereasthey
grew.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of
Ukraineshockedenergymar
ketsandboosteddemandfor
woodpellets,alongwithcoal,
naturalgasandanythingelse
thatcouldbeburnedtogener
ateelectricity.
At the time, Enviva was
dealingwithproblemsatsome
plantsthatmadeitdifficultto
fulfillobligationstocustomers.
Thecompanywas at riskof
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A-B
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Bains, Jatin…………………………….B2
Barry, Corie…………………………….B3
Baskett, Erin…………………………A4
Bonfig, Jason………………………..B3
Brand, Stanley……………………..A3
Brodeur, Thom……………………..B3
C-D
Creedon,Mike………………………B3
Dimon, Jamie………………………..B9
Druckenmiller, Stanley….B10
E-F
Erdoes,Mary………………………….B1
Ettinger, Jeff………………………….B3
Folkman, Zak………………………..A4
H
Hanbury,Dan………………………..B9
Hassabis,Demis………………….B4
Henderson,David……………….B2
Herro, Chase………………………….A4
Huang, Jensen…………………..B10
Hurt, Chris………………………………B2
J
John, SharonPrice…………….B2
Jones, JamesEdwardes…B3
Jumper, John………………………..B4
K
Keppler, John………………………..B3
Kress, Colette………………B4,B10
Kushner, Joshua………………..A16
L-M
LiangWenfeng……………………..B1
Meth, Thomas………………………B1
Metz, Luke……………………………..B4
Murati,Mira………………………….B4
O
Ostberg,Niklas…………………….B4
Ota,Hiroo……………………………….B4
P-R
Payen,Andrick……………………..B9
Ricard,Alexandre……………….B3
S
Savry,Guilhem…………………….B9
Schoenfelder, Thomas…….B4
Schoenholz, Sam………………..B4
Shazeer,Noam…………………….B4
Sizov,Andrey………………………..B9
Staley, Jes……………………………….B1
Subran, Ludovic……………………B1
T-V
TahnoonbinZayed
alNahyan……………………………..A1
Tu,Helen…………………………………A4
Vasos, Todd……………………………B2
W-Z
Weiner, Jeffrey…………………….A4
Wieladek, Tomasz……………..B9
Witkoff,Robert……………………A4
Witkoff, Zach………………………..A4
Zhao, Changpeng……………….A4
Zoph,Barret………………………….B4
missingprofittargets.Execu
tiveswereindangeroflosing
outonannualbonusesthat,in
somecases,wouldmorethan
doubletheirsalaries,creditors
claim.
AfirethatSeptemberata
Danishcustomer’spellet-stor
age silocreatedopportunity,
accordingtothesuit.Witha
bigcustomerunabletoaccept
shipments,Envivafounditself
withasurplusofpelletstosell
on the red-hot spotmarket,
where prices had shot to
roughlythreetimestheirnor
malrange.
The executives arranged
tradesinwhichEnvivawould
sellpelletstoGermany’sRWE
atthoserecordprices,immedi
atelyboostingthecompany’s
bottomlineandtheirchances
ofearningbonuses.
Tosealthedeals,however,
theycommittedEnvivatolater
buyagreatervolumeofpellets
fromRWEat the same sky
highprices. Inall, theexecu
tivesobligatedEnvivatopur
chasemorethan$650million
ofwoodpelletsoverthenext
threeyears.
“Evenassumingthattheen
terprisehad the liquidity to
satisfythesepurchaseobliga
tions, if thespotmarket for
woodpelletsfell fromitsall
timehigh,thefalloutwouldbe
disastrous,”thecreditors’at
torneysaidintheirsuit.
Naturally, prices did fall
back toEarth, setting off a
chain of events that bank
ruptedEnviva.
The executives never re
ceived their bonuses, either.
Enviva’s auditor determined
the RWE sales proceeds
couldn’tbebookedasrevenue
giventhecorrespondingpur
chaseobligations