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S&P to pay $77 million to settle SEC, state charges over ratings


    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Credit-rating agency Standard & Poor's will pay $77 million to settle a series of civil charges over what U.S. and state regulators allege to be "fraudulent misconduct" in how it rated certain commercial mortgage-backed securities.

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its first case against one of the big three raters, said S&P will pay $58 million to settle a pair of three cases with the agency, plus an additional $19 million to settle with the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts.

    The SEC also charged former S&P executive Barbara Duka, in a related case. Duka is planning to contest the charges in an SEC administrative court.

    (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Karen Freifeld)