In Brief: Merrill in $25M Deal To Settle a Copper Case

Merrill Lynch & Co. has agreed to pay $25 million to U.S. and U.K. regulators to settle charges that the brokerage assisted Sumitomo Corp. in a copper trading scheme in the mid-1990s.

Merrill said Wednesday that it will pay the Commodity Futures Trading Commission $15 million and the London Metal Exchange 6.5 million pounds, or about $10 million. The investment banking firm did not admit or deny wrongdoing.

Merrill, which said the settlements will help it avoid "the expense and distraction of protracted litigation," financed the activities of the Japanese company in 1995.

The scandal has cost Merrill $43 million in settlements alone. Last November, it agreed to pay futures traders $18.1 million to settle a lawsuit they had filed in federal court. Sumitomo has already agreed to pay more than $130 million to traders.

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