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By Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in talks to pay $2 billion to $3 billion to settle a probe into its sales of mortgage bonds leading up to the financial crisis, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.

The investment bank might reach a deal with the U.S. Justice Department within weeks, the person said, asking not to be identified because the negotiations aren’t public.

The accord is part of a broader push by the government to hold more Wall Street firms to account for the 2008 crisis.

Patrick Rodenbush, a Justice Department spokesman, and Tiffany Galvin at New York-based Goldman Sachs declined to comment on settlement talks.

The Wall Street Journal reported on June 4 that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are among banks nearing agreements.

Other banks set to settle include Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, UBS Group AG and Wells Fargo & Co., the Journal said.

Compliance Action

SEC Claws Back $3.7 Million From Ex-CSC CEO in Fraud Case

Computer Sciences Corp. agreed to pay $190 million to settle U.S. regulatory claims that it falsified financial results to hide losses. Two former executives will forfeit millions of dollars in pay tied to the misstatements.

Former Chief Executive Officer Michael Laphen will return more than $3.7 million to the company under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act provision that claws back compensation from executives when accounting fraud happens on their watch, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement June 5. Michael Mancuso, the ex-chief financial officer, will pay about $544,100 as part of the accord.

The company disclosed in December an agreement in principle to pay $190 million to settle the SEC’s claims. According to the regulator, CSC manipulated accounting models in 2010 and 2011 to hide a drop in earnings after it failed to meet deadlines for a contract with the U.K.’s National Health Service. Laphen and Mancuso made public statements about the NHS contract that misled investors about the company’s performance, the SEC said.

In settling the claims, neither CSC nor the executives admitted or denied the SEC’s allegations. The company said in a statement that it cooperated with the investigation from the outset.

Attorneys for Laphen and Mancuso didn’t reply to phone calls and e-mails seeking comment.

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Deutsche Bank Is Said to Probe $6 Billion of Russia Trades

Deutsche Bank AG is conducting an internal investigation into possible money laundering by Russian clients that may involve about $6 billion of transactions over more than four years, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

The Bank of Russia approached Deutsche Bank in October asking the firm to examine the stock-trading activities of some clients in the country, said one person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.

The Department of Financial Services in New York is looking at unusual trading activity at the firm in Russia, another person said. Deutsche Bank is analyzing data from 2011 through early 2015, and has alerted Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority, the European Central Bank and Germany’s Bafin of the investigation, two people said.

“We are committed to participating in international efforts to detect and combat suspicious activities and we take strong action where we find evidence of misconduct,” Deutsche Bank said June 5 in an e-mailed statement. “We have placed on leave a small number of individuals from our Moscow operation pending the results of an internal review.”

Officials for the FCA, the ECB, Bafin and the DFS declined to comment. The Bank of Russia in Moscow doesn’t comment on the actions of banks, according to the regulator’s press service. Deutsche Bank is also examining whether it should have alerted regulators sooner, one person said.

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Courts

Pao Said to Seek $2.7 Million to Walk Away From Gender Suit

Ellen Pao, who lost her gender-bias suit against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, wants $2.7 million to walk away from the case, a person familiar with the matter said.

Pao has told the elite venture-capital firm that she won’t appeal if it pays her and drops a demand for almost $1 million in court costs, said the person, who requested anonymity because the matter isn’t public.

A San Francisco jury rejected her claims in March.

An appeal might keep alive the three-year-old discrimination case, which put the California technology hub’s reputation as a boys’ club in the national spotlight.

Pao’s latest demand came after a filing last week in which she said she may appeal. Kleiner had offered to drop its bid for court costs if she agreed not to challenge the verdict.

The payoff she’s said to be seeking is almost three times the $964,502 Kleiner offered to settle the case before trial.

Christina Lee, a spokeswoman for Kleiner Perkins, and Alan Exelrod, a lawyer for Pao, declined to comment.

The case is Pao v. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers LLC, CGC-12-520719, California Superior Court (San Francisco).