Both companies involved said that the settlement terms were confidential but that the lawsuit has been resolved ‘to the mutual satisfaction of the parties’. This settlement is likely to end the case and follows earlier settlements benefiting shareholders, bondholders and customers. The trial began on 7 March in the US District Court in Manhattan. MF Global claimed that PwC’s negligence and malpractice led to the New York commodities brokerage’s collapse in 2011. PwC had been accused of advising MF Global to account for repurchase-to-maturity transactions as if they were sales and immediately booking the revenues up to 21 months before they actually came in.

Not sales

PwC’s advice on some deferred tax assets, on which the company took a $119 million write off in the days before collapsing, was also under attack. Meanwhile, PwC’s lawyers argued that the company was behind the scheme and that it merely confirmed that the accounting was legal. PricewaterhouseCoopers was facing as much as $3 billion in damages if found guilty.