JPMorgan Chase & Co. became the first U.S. bank to settle claims it helped Enron Corp. commit the accounting fraud leading to the energy giant's 2001 bankruptcy.
If approved by a federal judge, JPMorgan will pay $350 million in cash to Enron creditors in the "MegaClaims" lawsuit. The suit, brought by the Enron estate that exists to liquidate assets and pay debt, sued 10 banks claiming they hid debt and inflated results contributing to Enron's collapse.
Enron actually valued the JPMorgan settlement at $1 billion, including counterclaims that the bank agreed to drop. Earlier this summer, JPMorgan, the third-largest bank in the United States, agreed to pay $2.2 billion to resolve a separate investor class-action lawsuit over Enron.
Toronto-Dominion Bank also agreed to pay $130 million in cash to resolve its portion of the MegaClaims suit and dismiss some of its charges against Enron. Enron said that it has now settled with five of the 10 banks, recovering around $735 million in cash.
Under other settlements with Enron, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will pay $250 million, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc $41.8 million and Royal Bank of Canada $25 million. Other banks named in the suit include Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank AG and Merrill Lynch & Co.
Earlier this summer, in a separate investor class-action lawsuit, JPMorgan agreed to pay $2.2 billion. TD Bank, Canada's second-largest bank, is also a defendant in an Enron securities class-action lawsuit.
