By Justin Baer
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is expected to pay $129.5 million to
settle its slice of a private lawsuit that accuses banks of
manipulating foreign-currency rates, according to a person familiar
with the matter.
A final accord may be reached in the next several weeks, the
person said.
The deal with investors including the Oklahoma Firefighters
Pension and Retirement System would add Goldman to the list of
settlements private investors have extracted from many of the
world's largest banks including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., UBS AG
and Bank of America Corp.
The lawsuit has been one of many headaches caused by banks'
foreign-exchange trading businesses. Regulators and law-enforcement
officials in both the U.S. and U.K. had seized on similar
accusations, extracting settlements of their own from some of the
same banks.
Bank of America settled the private investors' claims last month
for $180 million. Citigroup Inc. and Barclays PLC are expected to
strike deals soon, The Wall Street Journal has reported. The
investors accused the banks' traders of conspiring in instant
messages and chat rooms with names such as "the Cartel," and "the
Dream Team" to manipulate foreign-exchange rates, and sued the
financial firms in 2013.
Goldman was also one of several banks issued subpoenas by the
New York's Superintendent of Financial Services stemming from
questions about their use of computer programs and allegations of
forex-rate manipulation.
Separately, the U.S. Justice Department is expected to draw
guilty pleas on criminal antitrust charges from Citigroup, J.P.
Morgan, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, related to the alleged
rigging of forex rates, the Journal reported earlier this month.
UBS also is expected to reach a settlement but will receive
immunity from prosecution for its cooperation with investigators,
the Journal reported.
Write to Justin Baer at justin.baer@wsj.com
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