New York (July 17, 2003) -- Andersen Worldwide Societe Cooperative, the network of foreign accounting firms once linked to Andersen, Enron’s disgraced former auditor, will reportedly pay $40 million to settle a lawsuit related to Enron’s collapse, according to published reports.
Andersen Worldwide also agreed to pay $20 million to Enron's creditors, Bloomberg News reported. The agreement, which doesn’t cover Arthur Andersen, is a fraction of the $29 billion that shareholders and former workers say they lost in Enron's meltdown. The settlement was approved by Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez of Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan last week.
Andersen's U.S. practice, which was convicted of obstruction of justice in June 2002, shut down its audit practice last August.
According to court papers, Enron shareholders and workers will split $25 million under the Andersen Worldwide settlement, Bloomberg reported. An arbitrator will decide how the money is divided. The remaining $15 million will reportedly be used to finance litigation against Enron executives, Andersen's auditors in the United States and Enron's investment bankers and lawyers. None of the money will be used to pay lawyers' fees.
-- WebCPA staff
