Under a settlement with the Department of Labor, former Enron executive Jeffrey K. Skilling has agreed to drop his opposition to a previous $85 million settlement, waive his right to benefits from Enron's pension plans, and be permanently barred from serving in a fiduciary capacity to any employee benefit plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) in the future.

The proposed settlement must be formally documented and submitted for approval to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

The settlement acknowledges that Skilling is already subject to an order of forfeiture obtained by the U.S. Department of Justice's Enron Task Force. That order, entered October 23, 2006 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, requires the establishment of a $45 million restitution fund for victims of Enron-related fraud, including plan participants and securities investors.

In October, Skilling was also sentenced to 24 years and four months in prison on conspiracy, securities fraud, and other charges related to the collapse of the Enron Corporation.

The Labor Department's settlement provides that, if Skilling's convictions are overturned or vacated and the restitution fund is dissolved, Skilling will still pay $2.5 million to the participants and beneficiaries in the company's savings and employee stock ownership plans plus $500,000 in penalties to the department.

On June 26, 2003, the Labor Department sued Skilling and others for mismanagement of the plans in violation of ERISA. The department alleged that Skilling failed to properly oversee the fiduciaries appointed to run Enron's plans and failed to correct misstatements about Enron's financial condition made by Kenneth Lay to plan participants. Skilling also was sued as a member of Enron's board of directors for failing to properly appoint and monitor a trustee to oversee the employee stock ownership plan.