New York, Aug 27: New York state attorney general Eliot Spitzer said he settled claims with the remaining seven of the 10 investment banks that were part of April’s $1.4bn global pact over alleged biased research. Spitzer said NY will receive $12.4m, most of which it has already collected, from the banks. Credit Suisse Group will pay $4.4m; Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers and UBS $1.5m each, and US Bancorp $731,000, said Juanita Scarlett, a spokeswoman for Spitzer. She said the civil penalties will help bring about the structural reforms necessary.

The amounts were based on the size of the banks and the degrees to which they may have committed improprieties, and proceeds will go to the state’s general fund, she said.
New York had earlier settled with Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley. Spitzer said he believed New York is the first state to settle with all 10 banks and to have collected almost all its civil penalties.

The banks in April settled charges with regulators, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission, New York Stock Exchange and NASD, that they issued overly bullish stock research to win investment banking business.
Those banks also agreed to settle with the states that had the primary responsibility for investigating them. New York had been Citigroup’s and Morgan Stanley’s lead investigator, and settled with Merrill Lynch in May ‘02.


Bureau Report