GE unit to pay $70 million over muni bid-rigging cases

General Electric Co acknowledged that three former traders at a finance unit engaged in bid-rigging of municipal bonds and agreed to pay $70 .4 million to resolve probes into the matter. The agreement was with GE Funding Capital Market Services, a discontinued GE business unit, and concerned actions that occurred between 1999 and 2004. It is one of five that the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Justice Department and other state agencies have reached with financial institutions charged with bid-rigging.