TRENTON, New Jersey (Legal Newsline) — A multimillion dollar settlement with Natixis Funding Corp. and Societe Generale will resolve allegations these organizations acted fraudulently and anti-competitively, New Jersey Attorney General John J. Hoffman has announced.
The fraudulent and anti-competitive actions allegedly came during municipal bond derivative transactions with government agencies and non-profits in New Jersey and across the country. To resolve the allegations, Natixis will pay $29.9 million and Societe Generale will pay $26.7 million.
Hoffman said 53.8 million will go into a global settlement fund. This fund will provide restitution for affected entities that include municipalities, counties, government agencies, school districts and non-profits that entered into municipal derivatives contracts with Natixis or Societe Generale.
Municipal bond derivatives are contracts that tax-exempt issues use to reinvest bond sale proceeds. Claims allege Natixis and Societe Generale rigged bids for these contracts and submitted non-competitive courtesy bids and fraudulent certificates to government agencies.
The case was handled by deputy attorney generals Toral Joshi and Isabella Stempler, and assistant attorney general Brian F. McDonough.