Sept. 14, 2004 – Over 17,000 former Enron or Enron-affiliated workers, who had money tied to four pension plans when the company collapsed in 2001 amidst revelations of accounting fraud, will receive their benefit payments.
Enron will put $321 million in an account to fund the four pension plans. Enron initially tried to underfund the account, by putting up about $200 million to pay for the four pension plans, but the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which backs up private pension funds, intervened during a bankruptcy court hearing to raise the stake. The money to fund the plan will come from bankrupt Enron's $4.45 billion sale of its pipeline business.