S.&P.’s $1.37 Billion Reckoning Over Crisis-Era Misdeeds

Nearly a decade after credit rating agencies fed a subprime mortgage frenzy that imperiled the global economy, one of the industry’s biggest players now faces a costly reckoning. Standard & Poor’s, a rating agency accused of inflating its assessment of mortgage investments that spurred the 2008 financial crisis, said on Tuesday that it had agreed to pay $1.37 billion to settle wide-ranging civil charges from the Justice Department as well as 19 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia. S.&P. also signed a statement of facts that outlined its role in the mortgage crisis, but the ratings agency did not admit to wrongdoing, securing a major concession from the government.
The settlement, which does not require judicial approval, all but closes the book on one of the government’s signature Wall Street cases. The Justice Department sued S.&P. two years ago this week, setting in motion a wave of lawsuits from states across the country. More in the New York Times here.