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.
The government’s decision to settle signals that its pursuit of crisis-era misdeeds has entered a final stage. The S.&P. case, coming on the heels of banks and other financial firms collectively paying more than $40 billion to settle federal and state investigations, was among the government’s few remaining items of unfinished business from the crisis.
The Justice Department has scheduled a news conference for later in the morning, when it also will release the statement of facts in the case. Attorney General Eric Holder will attend the news conference, as will the attorneys general for Connecticut and Mississippi.
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On television and in the courtroom, the credit rating agency has waged war against a Justice Dept. lawsuit. But behind the scenes, it wants nothing more than to buy peace.
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