Preliminary Approval Granted For Enron Settlement

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

24 February 2006

It emerged on Wednesday that preliminary approval has been granted for a settlement agreement put forward by three banks involved in the collapse of Enron.

The settlement, which was provisionally approved by Judge Melinda Harmon, comprised payments of $2.4 billion from the Canadian International Bank of Commerce, $2 billion from Citigroup, and $2.2 billion from JP Morgan Chase.

According to a Reuters report, lead shareholder attorney, William Lerach observed that:

"It is the largest recovery for fraud in history and, believe me, we are not done. There's more to come."

He continued:

"These banks participated in a scheme to defraud the Enron investors for their own financial gain. They got caught, the evidence is overwhelming."

"Those that haven't settled are going to trial and (will) be held liable, and that's why they're paying these huge amounts of money to settle."

Banks which have not yet settled allegations that they assisted Enron's management in covering up the true state of the firm's financial affairs include Barclays, Merrill Lynch, Royal Bank of Canada and Deutsche Bank.

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