Merrill Lynch., Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, as well as Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, have agreed to pay $180 million to settle accounting and securities fraud charges brought by the bankruptcy trustee for Boston Chicken, Inc. The trustee brought suit against the law firm and three underwriters, claiming they had violated legal standards and cost investors more than $1 billion. All deny participating in any malfeasance and say they are settling to avoid spending additional resources and time litigating the suit. The terms of the settlement, including its apportionment, are confidential. The money from the settlement will be distributed among creditors. Boston Chicken, Inc., the corporation that once owned Boston Market, a chain of fast food family restaurants, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1998. In December of 1999, McDonald's Corporation (through its Golden Restaurant Operations subsidiary) agreed to purchase Boston Chicken's assets for $173.5 million. McDonald's finalized the acquisition of the Boston Market business on May 26, 2000. The full article regarding the settlement can be found here: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1140084314781 Leslie