Judge approves $285M Citigroup-SEC settlement

A federal judge reluctantly approved a $285 million settlement between Citigroup and the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday over allegations that the global bank misled investors on a $1 billion package of mortgage bonds. U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff acted two months after a federal appeals court ruled that he had shown an “abuse of discretion” by blocking the 2011 settlement in an earlier ruling. Rakoff initially refused to sign off on legal grounds that the two sides hadn’t given him enough information to determine whether the settlement was fair and “in the public interest.” He also criticized the SEC’s failure to require Citigroup to acknowledge wrongdoing as a condition of the deal. More on USA Today here.