Cash settles Thornburg securities case

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - A federal judge has signed off on a settlement that would return $11.5 million to pension funds that lost millions on mortgage-backed securities sold by a defunct Santa Fe company.  

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports U.S. District Judge James Browning of Albuquerque approved the settlement in the case of Thornburg Mortgage earlier this month.  

The agreement is still subject to a final hearing on Feb. 25.  

The case was first brought in 2009 by the Genesee County Employees' Retirement System in Michigan and has since been expanded to include other groups that lost millions when they purchased mortgage certificates between June 2006 and Dec. 2010.  

Under the settlement, the money will be paid by the financial companies or their insurance companies and underwriters who marketed the Thornburg bonds.