The law firm that represented the bankrupt Baptist Foundation of Arizona has reached a settlement to pay the foundation’s bankruptcy trust $21 million.
The agreement with Jennings, Strouss and Salmon was authorized by the Arizona Corporation Commission on Tuesday, May 14, the commission announced.
The settlement follows a $217 million settlement reached May 6 with accounting firm Arthur Andersen related to the same bankruptcy.
The $21 million payment would settle claims that the law firm failed to notice evidence of fraud that led to the collapse of the foundation, the Associated Press reported. In agreeing to the payment, the firm admitted no liability.
More than 10,000 investors, many of them elderly, lost $570 million related to the 1999 failure.
Three former officials of the foundation that was created in 1948 to raise funds for Southern Baptist causes have pleaded guilty to fraud charges while another five are awaiting trial.
(RNS)
Share with others: