DENVER—The Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association says it has reached a $15.5 million settlement with Qwest Communications International stemming from the company’s accounting scandal.
PERA had opted out a $400 million class-action settlement reached in 2005. Greg Smith, the retirement fund’s general counsel, said PERA’s share of that settlement would have been about $400,000.
In an October filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Qwest said it had agreed to pay a total of $411 million to shareholder groups that had opted out of the class-action settlement.
PERA announced its settlement yesterday. Qwest spokesman Bob Toeves said today he could not comment on the specifics of the agreement.
PERA provides retirement and other benefits to 410,000 current and former public employees in Colorado. It has assets of $42 billion.
The SEC accused Qwest and several former executives of a massive financial fraud that forced the Denver-based phone company to restate $2.2 billion in revenue.
