S&P to Pay $1.5 Billion for Inflated Investment Ratings

California Attorney General Kamala Harris today joined the U.S. Justice Department and counterparts from 18 states in announcing a $210 million settlement with Standard &R Poor’s to settle federal and state civil claims over S&P’s inflated ratings of residential mortgage- backed securities and structured investment vehicle notes.

Harris said in a statement that -- combined with a separate settlement also announced this morning resolving a lawsuit filed by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System -- S&P will pay a total of $1.5 billion to state and federal government entities.

Through Harris’s office, California will recover $210 million in damages, from which CalPERS and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System will receive allocations for their losses on investments into certain S&P-rated securities, the statement said. Separately, S&P will pay CalPERS $125 million to settle a suit.

Prior to the settlement, an investigation by Harris indicated that S&P systematically misrepresented that its ratings of securities were based on objective and reliable analysis and not influenced by S&P’s economic interests, the statement said.

“California’s public pension funds suffered significant losses due to S&P’s failure to honestly and accurately disclose the risk of the very investments that caused an international recession,” Harris said.

“This settlement holds S&P accountable for financial losses caused by these misrepresentations and compensates our pension funds.”

Harris was scheduled to hold a news conference in downtown Los Angeles late this morning to discuss the “revenge porn” case involving the just- finished cyber exploitation trial in San Diego.

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENTS: Does the settlement undo the damage? Do you think Wall Street has reformed enough to avoid another financial collapse?

• City News Service