CITIGROUP: Buying your own kind of justice

So that’s settled, then.

Citigroup Inc will pay $75 million to settle U.S. regulatory claims that it misled investors by understating holdings linked to subprime mortgages by billions of dollars as the housing crisis unfolded in 2007.

Former Chief Financial Officer Gary Crittenden agreed to pay $100,000 to settle allegations that he didn’t disclose the bank’s exposure despite receiving internal briefings.

Citigroup’s former head of investor relations Arthur Tildesley will pay $80,000 to settle claims he helped draft disclosures that misled investors, the SEC said.

The congressionally appointed panel released documents showing Citigroup publicly told investors in October 2007 that its exposure was $13 billion.

The same day, the Citigroup Board was briefed to the effect that the exposure was in fact four times higher.

I’m glad that’s all settled and behind us: there’s one law for the rich, and another for the poor.