Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc yesterday agreed to pay more than $44 million and enter a non-prosecution agreement to settle a U.S. Department of Justice criminal probe of traders accused of defrauding customers on bond prices, Reuters reported. RBS will pay a $35 million fine, plus at least $9.09 million to more than 30 customers, including Pacific Investment Management Co, Soros Fund Management and affiliates of Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Prosecutors said that from 2008 to 2013, RBS cheated customers by lying about bond prices, charging commissions it did not earn and concealing the fraud in an effort to boost profit at the customers’ expense. Some victims had received federal bailout money through the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The settlement arose from a five-year federal crackdown on deceptive bond trading in which eight traders, including two from RBS, have been criminally charged.
