California Public Employees' Retirement System Settles with Credit Rating Agency

Enforcement MBS Credit Rating Agencies

On February 3, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) announced a $125 million settlement with a large credit rating agency and its parent company to resolve charges made in connection with the agency’s inflated ratings of three structured investment vehicle notes that collapsed during the financial crisis. The CalPERS settlement is separate from the DOJ’s settlement with the same credit rating agency. The state-operated retirement system will collect an additional $176 million from the State of California’s $210 million received from the DOJ settlement, for a total of $301 million.