A federal judge has approved three settlements with banks to pay a combined $6.6-billion to former investors in the Enron Corporation. A civil lawsuit, in which the University of California is the lead plaintiff, alleges that the banks aided Enron in fraudulent financial schemes before the energy giant collapsed in bankruptcy in late 2001.

The judge’s ruling, issued today, is another step in the university’s pursuit of what is the biggest shareholder recovery in history (The Chronicle, May 10, 2002, July 16, 2004, November 1, 2004, January 10, 2005, June 13, 2005, June 15, 2005, and August 3, 2005). With more than $7.3-billion in settlements recovered thus far, a lawyer representing the university told the Houston Chronicle that the pot is earning $550,000 in interest per day. Several other banks have not settled in the civil suit, which is scheduled to go to trial in October.