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For Immediate Release:
For Further Information:
December 23, 2011

Office of The Attorney General
- Paula T. Dow, Attorney General 
Division of Law
- Sharon Joyce, Acting Director
Media Inquiries-
Lee Moore
609-292-4791
Citizen Inquiries-

609-292-4925
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Attorney General Announces $34.25 Million, Multi-State Settlement With GE Funding Over Alleged Municipal Bond Derivatives Scheme
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  TRENTON – Attorney General Paula T. Dow announced today a $34.25 million, multi-state settlement with GE Funding Capital Market Services, Inc. as part of an ongoing, nationwide investigation of alleged illegal conduct in the municipal bond derivatives industry.

As part of the settlement, GE Funding has agreed to pay $30 million in restitution to affected state agencies, municipalities, school districts and not-for-profit entities nationwide that entered into guaranteed investment contracts with GE Funding and two of its affiliates -- Trinity Funding Company and Trinity Plus Funding Company -- between 1999 and 2005.

In addition, GE Funding agreed to pay a $1.25 million civil penalty and $3 million for fees and costs of the investigation to the 25 settling states.

The states’ investigation developed evidence that certain traders at GE Funding, in concert with certain brokers, engaged in conduct that allowed the broker to determine in advance that GE Funding would win a bid for a guaranteed investment contract by allowing GE Funding to receive a “last look,” and arranging for other financial institutions to submit purposely non-winning courtesy bids. On many occasions, due to the “last look,” GE Funding was able to lower its bid to the issuer and still win the transaction.

The multi-state settlement is a distinct component of a coordinated global $70 million settlement that GE Funding entered into today. As a part of this global settlement, GE Funding also reached separate agreements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Internal Revenue Service.

GE Funding is the fifth financial institution to settle with the multi-state task force in the ongoing municipal bond derivatives investigation. The other four are Bank of America, UBS AG, JP Morgan and Wachovia. To date, the multi-state task force has obtained settlements worth almost $350 million.

Municipal bond derivatives are contracts that tax-exempt issuers use to reinvest proceeds of bond sales until the funds are needed, or to hedge interest-rate risk. In April 2008, the states began investigating allegations that certain large financial institutions, including national banks and insurance companies, and certain brokers and swap advisors, engaged in various schemes to rig bids and commit other deceptive, unfair and fraudulent conduct in the municipal bond derivatives market.

The states’ broader investigation, which remains ongoing, has revealed wrongful and deceptive conduct coordinated among individuals at a number of financial institutions, and certain brokers with whom they had working relationships.

The wrongful conduct took the form of improper communications among competitors, submission of non-competitive courtesy bids, allowing financial institutions improper access to confidential bidding information, payment of improper fees to brokers to steer business, and submission of fraudulent certifications of compliance to government agencies, among others, in contravention of U.S. Treasury regulations.

Regardless of the means used to carry out the various schemes, the objective was to enrich the financial institution and/or the broker at the expense of the issuer - - and ultimately taxpayers - - depriving the issuer of a competitive, transparent marketplace. As a result of such wrongful conduct, state, city, local, and not-for-profit entities entered into municipal derivatives contracts on less advantageous terms than they otherwise would have.

In addition to New Jersey, other Attorneys General joining the settlement include Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Deputy Attorney General Joshua T. Rabinowitz, Deputy Attorney General Toral M. Joshi, Assistant Attorney General Brian F. McDonough, and Assistant Attorney General Carol G. Jacobson handled the matter on behalf of the state.

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