Ten former outside board members of Enron Corp. have agreed to use $13 million of their own money to pay part of a $168 million settlement with shareholders who had sued following the company’s bankruptcy.

The settlement was first announced in October, but the details were not released until last week. The settlement requires the approval of U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon in Houston.

Eighteen of the former directors were party to the settlement, but only those who benefited from insider stock sales agreed to personally pay fines. The remaining $155 million will be paid from insurance policies that Enron held.

“It was important to reach this settlement to stanch the consumption of the directors-and-officers insurance by defense fees and obtain the money for the victims of the fraud,” said William Lerach, lead counsel for the Regents of the University of California, the lead plaintiffs in the case.

A shareholder class-action lawsuit was scheduled to begin in late 2006. The University of California joined the lawsuit in December 2001, when Enron declared bankruptcy. The university claimed massive insider trading, fraud and losses of $145 million on Enron investments.

Of the $200 million in Enron insurance available for settlements, about $13 million has been put aside for the continuing defense for former executives, including Kenneth Lay, the former chairman, and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling. Another $32 million will be part of the Enron bankruptcy estate that will be distributed to creditors.

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