The Cartel
Drowning in debt after Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot) and her son Ned Ashton (Wally Kurth) run the family company ELQ into the ground, Tracy's brother and sister-in-law, doctors Alan (Stuart Damon) and Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charleson), hire businessman and attorney Paul Hornsby as the company's new financial adviser. Paul soon falls for Ned's love interest, environmentalist Jenny Eckert (Cheryl Richardson). While Paul's arrival initially ruffles Tracy's and Ned's feathers, Tracy admires his business savvy when he successfully strikes a deal with Harlan Barrett to help salvage a Quartermaine cargo ship. Barrett later forms a cartel with Leopold Taub, Cesar Faison (Anders Hove) and Larry Ashton (Hugo Napier) to control global business. Having poisoned Paul's young daughter Susan, the Cartel uses the promise of an antidote to force Paul to use his position at ELQ to give the Cartel control of ELQ's assets. The Cartel also forces Paul to compel private investigator Sean Donely (John Reilly), whose wife Tiffany (Sharon Wyatt) has also been poisoned, to provide information about Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers)'s investigation in exchange for a temporary antidote. Though Paul loves Jenny, the Cartel orders him to marry Tracy to get control of her ELQ stock. Tracy and Paul announce their engagement in late August 1991, and Jenny rejects him.