February 3, 2015

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, along with the DOJ and the attorneys general of 18 states and the District of Columbia, announced a settlement with Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (S&P) and its parent company McGraw-Hill Financial Inc. to resolve federal and state civil claims related to S&P’s conduct in inflating ratings of residential mortgage-backed securities and structured investment vehicle notes. Combined with a separate settlement also announced today resolving a lawsuit filed by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), S&P will pay a total of $1.5B to federal and state government entities. The State of California will recover $210M in damages, from which CalPERS and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) will receive allocations for their losses on investments of certain S&P-rated securities. Separately, S&P will also pay CalPERS $125M to settle CalPERS’ specific lawsuit. The remainder of the total settlement proceeds will be distributed amongst the DOJ and the other nineteen attorneys general. CA

Tagged in: Securities Fraud,