NEW YORK -- JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup agreed today to pay a total of $255 million for their roles in Enron's manipulation of its financial statements.
Morgan will pay $135 million and Citigroup will pay $120 million as part of the settlement, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.
The SEC said most of the money would go to victims of Enron -- the first in a string of scandals that have tainted corporate America since 2001.
"If you know or have reason to know that you are helping a company mislead its investors, you are in violation of federal securities laws," SEC enforcement chief Stephen Cutler said in a statement.
In December, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase officials told an investigative panel of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee that they believed they were engaging in lawful deals with Enron.
