JP Morgan Chase agreed on Tuesday to pay US$1 billion to settle claims brought against it by Enron, bringing the total cost of the Wall Street bank's brush with the notorious energy firm to US$3.2 billion.
The latest settlement will put further pressure on the banks against which Enron has an outstanding claim.
Enron filed suit against 10 banks, accusing them of helping the energy firm's former management to commit fraud. Enron filed for bankruptcy in December 2001 amid allegations that it routinely hid debts and inflated revenues and earnings through a series of complex off-balance sheet deals.
Almost four years later, it continues to cast a long shadow over both the finances and the reputation of Wall Street.
JP Morgan agreed to pay US$350 million in cash and to forego certain claims in Enron's bankruptcy proceedings, bringing the settlement to around US$1 billion.
"We have put behind us another significant piece of our Enron exposure," the bank's chief executive William Harrison said.
The firm agreed in June to pay US$2.2 billion to settle a class action lawsuit filed by former investors in Enron.
The Toronto Dominion Bank also announced a settlement with Enron on Tuesday and said it would pay US$70 million to resolve the allegations that it helped the company commit fraud.
Enron has now recovered about US$735 million in cash in what it calls its "mega-claims" litigation. In earlier settlements, Royal Bank of Scotland agreed to pay US$41.8 million, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will pay US$250 million and Royal Bank of Canada will pay US$25 million.
"These are tremendous results for creditors and they will certainly add to their distributions," said John Ray, Enron's board chairman.
He said talks were ongoing with the five banks that have not settled and that the latest agreements "give us momentum."
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)