Citigroup Inc. asked a U.S. appeals court to overrule a trial judge and let its $285 million mortgage-securities settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission go forward, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The bank is challenging U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff’s 2011 refusal to approve the agreement, which would resolve claims that New York-based Citigroup misled investors in a $1 billion financial product linked to risky mortgages. The SEC claimed Citigroup cost investors more than $600 million. Judge Rakoff criticized the SEC practice of agreeing to settlements that do not require defendants to admit wrongdoing. He said that the parties did not give him "any proven or admitted facts" he could use to determine whether the settlement was fair.
