Washington - US
banking giant Citigroup on Thursday agreed to pay 75 million dollars to settle charges that it misled investors about its exposure to the 2008
financial crisis.
The US government's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged that Citigroup Inc's executives played down the bank's exposure to the sub-prime
mortgage market at the centre of Wall Street's near-collapse in late 2008.
The SEC said Citigroup made "misleading statements" about its holdings, both in
earnings calls with investors and public filings to the SEC.
From July to October 2007, the
bank said it held about 13 billion dollars in sub-prime mortgage assets, when its exposure was actually more than 50 billion dollars, the SEC said. The extra assets were disclosed in November of that year as their value began declining.
"The rules of financial disclosure are simple - if you choose to speak, speak in full and not in half truths," said Robert Khuzami, the SEC's chief enforcer.
In addition to the 75-million-dollar settlement, two former Citigroup executives agreed to pay 180,000 dollars in total to settle charges against them.
Citigroup received 45 billion dollars in emergency government loans at the height of the financial crisis.
