Enron Directors Vote for Pay Raise

HOUSTON - The five-member Enron Corp. board of directors has voted for pay raises that boost salaries by as much as $1 million.

In a filing with the New York bankruptcy court that oversaw the company's reorganization last year, the board said it voted to increase its compensation retroactively to the beginning of June. It raises the annual salary of Chairman John Ray III, a Wheaton, Ill., bankruptcy specialist, from $200,000 to $1.2 million.

Three other board members had their pay double to $300,000, while vice chairman Robert Deutschman, a Santa Monica, Calif., investment banker, now gets $420,000 annually, up from $150,000. The board, none of them Enron employees, was chosen by creditors last year as part of the bankruptcy reorganization plan.

According to Wednesday's filing, the raises were needed because "the involvement of the directors has exceeded the levels anticipated," the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The board said the raises were temporary and would be revisited within six months.

The Houston-based energy company imploded in 2001 amid a massive financial and accounting scandal.

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