[JURIST] Three of the largest brokerage firms in the US reached a settlement [press release] with the New York Attorney General's office [official website] and securities regulators representing 48 states on Thursday, agreeing to pay $10 billion to investors who purchased auction rate securities. The agreement is the result of an effort to settle claims that Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank [corporate websites] had misled investors about the safety of auction rate securities during marketing and sales of the investments. According to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo [official profile], the banking firms will buy back all such securities held by retail investors, a group including all individuals, charities, non-profits, and small to medium size businesses. Commenting on the agreement, Cuomo said:

Today is a win for investors and a win for the market, and to date we’ve returned close to $50 billions back into the pockets of investors... At the heart of this investigation, is improving confidence for the investor and for the market, and today we’ve taken another giant step forward towards fulfilling this goal.