A federal judge on Wednesday approved a $115 million settlementbetween American International Group Inc. shareholders and formerCEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg and other defendants over allegedimproper accounting at the insurance giant.

The accord is the latest in a string of settlements to spill outof class-action securities-fraud litigation tied to practices atthe insurer dating to 1999. In total, $937.5 million in settlementshave been approved with defendants, including AIG.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts in Manhattan gave finalapproval to the pact at a court hearing, calling it “fair,reasonable and adequate.”

“Defendants are pleased that all those claims have beenresolved,” Robert Dwyer, a lawyer for Greenberg at Boies, Schiller& Flexner, said in a statement.

Batts approved a $725 million settlement with AIG in February2012. She earlier approved a $97.5 million accord with accountingfirm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In August, a federal appeals court reversed a decision by Battsrejecting preliminary approval of a fourth settlement for $72million with General Re, a unit of Warren Buffett's BerkshireHathaway Inc.

LONG-RUNNING LAWSUIT

The settlement with Greenberg and the other defendants resolvesa 2004 lawsuit accusing the defendants of misleading investors inconnection with an alleged illegal bid-rigging scheme in theinsurance industry.

The lawsuit also accused Greenberg and others of making falseand misleading statements about an alleged accounting fraud thatresulted in a $3.9 billion restatement by AIG in 2005.

AIG separately paid $1.6 billion to settle various regulatoryinvestigations of the accounting fraud, and Greenbergand formerChief Financial Officer Howard Smith paid $16.5 million to settleclaims by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The alleged activities took place well before AIG accepted $182billion in taxpayer bailouts during the financial crisis in 2008and 2009.

Among those participating in the $115 million settlementareGreenberg, Smith, two other executives and two of Greenberg'scompanies, C.V. Starr & Co and Starr International Co.

Two Ohio state pension funds acted as lead plaintiffs for theclass, which covers AIG shareholders who bought stock from October1999 to April 2005.

Batts also approved awarding 13.25 percent of the settlement, or$15.24 million, as attorneys fees to plaintiffs' lawyers led by thelaw firms Labaton Sucharow and Hahn Loeser & Parks.

Thomas Dubbs, a lawyer at Labaton, did not respond to a requestfor comment.

IMPACT ON NEW YORK LAWSUIT

Dwyer, Greenberg's lawyer, said in his statement that thesettlement also “effectively extinguishes all damages claims”asserted in a separate civil fraud lawsuit being pursued by NewYork Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

The lawsuit, filed in 2005, seeks more than $6 billion indamages and centers on two allegedly fraudulent reinsurancetransactions in 1999 and 2000.

Schneiderman had sought to object to the settlement, but Battssaid in January he did not have standing. Schneiderman has filed anotice of appeal.

Damien LaVera, a spokesman for Schneiderman, said regardless theoutcome of the settlement, “our office intends to continue topursue this case.”

An AIG spokesman declined to comment on the settlement.

The case is In re American International Group Inc SecuritiesLitigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District ofNew York, No.04-08141.