States Conducting Coordinated GIC Probe

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Several state attorney generals, including those from Florida and Connecticut, are conducting a coordinated investigation of firms’ alleged anticompetitive practices in connection with municipal bond-related guaranteed investment contracts, one company and several sources said Monday.

XL Capital, Ltd, the Bermuda-based insurer, disclosed the investigation in a 10-K financial statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. The company said its subsidiaries last month received a subpoena from the Connecticut attorney general and an “antitrust civil investigative demand” from the Florida Attorney General “in connection with a coordinated multi-state attorneys general investigation into…matters referenced in…[Department of Justice] and SEC subpoenas.”

A Florida official confirmed that the state’s attorney general’s office is part of “a multi-state investigation into the GIC investments…that deals with an alleged conspiracy to fix the returns on guaranteed investment contracts by various financial institutions.”

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