Six former senior executives of Xerox yesterday agreed to pay $22 million (€18.5 million) in settlement over civil fraud allegations as US regulators continued their wide-ranging investigation of accounting at the copier company.

One of those alleged to have committed fraud is Mr Paul Allaire, a former Xerox chief executive, who was yesterday forced to stand down from the board of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Mr Allaire has agreed to pay $8.6m in return of money allegedly fraudulently obtained, interest and fines. His departure from GSK follows a bar on serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years.