A number of Enron’s former directors have agreed to a $168 million settlement of a shareholder lawsuit over the collapse of the energy trading company. The directors will pay more than $13 million of their own money, while insurance proceeds will cover the remaining $155 million, according to the University of California, the lead plaintiff in the case.
The settlement follows an agreement announced on Friday by investors in WorldCom, which fell prey to an accounting scandal, in which ten former directors agreed to pay $18 million as part of a $54 million settlement.
No settlement has been former Enron chairman and chief executive Kenneth Lay, former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, or former chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, the university said. The directors’ settlement was struck in October, but the parties spent the last three months negotiating a complex agreement to provide a framework for court approval.
Other settlements in the case included $222.5 million by Lehman Brothers, $69 million by Bank of America and a $40 million settlement that covered Andersen Worldwide, the non-US arm of Arthur Andersen. Arthur Andersen’s US arm, Enron’s auditor, is still a defendant.
Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2001.