A court has ruled that former shareholders of defunct-blowup Enron who bought shares between Sept. 9, 1997 and Dec. 2, 2001 will be paid a settlement of $7.2 billion. An additional $688 million has been set aside for the lawfirm that represented the plaintiffs.

Since there was clearly no money to be made from suing a bankrupt black hole, the lawyers and shareholders went after the banks that did business with the big E. The ones that settled are the ones paying out to the former shareholders — JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The banks that fought the suit — Merrill Lynch & Co., Barclays and Credit Suisse First Boston — ended up winning in court.