Citing the demands of overseeing Enron Corp.’s complex bankruptcy, the directors who now run the defunct company voted pay increases for themselves that have at least doubled their compensation, and in one case, increased the pay sixfold.

Under Enron’s bankruptcy reorganization plan, the directors were paid $150,000 a year, except for Interim CEO Stephen Cooper, who received $200,000.

However, in a filing Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, which oversees the case, the board said it had voted to increase its compensation, effective June 1, 2005 on a “temporary” basis, which would be reviewed within six months.

Enron Chairman John J. Ray III, a bankruptcy specialist, now earns $1.2 million on an annualized basis, and Vice Chairman Robert M. Deutschman, an investment banker, now receives annualized pay of $420,000 a year. The other three directors — Stephen D. Bennett, Rick A. Harrington and Jim R. Latimer of Dallas — have doubled their salaries to $300,000 each on an annualized basis.

According to the filing, “the involvement of the directors has exceeded the levels anticipated” since Enron emerged from bankruptcy. “Directors have held dozens of in-person or telephonic meetings and, in particular, have become more heavily involved in many aspects” of Enron’s remaining business, which includes outstanding litigation.

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