Deloitte & Touche

Vancouver, BC: Deloitte & Touche LLP, a Canadian audit firm, agreed to pay $50.5 million of a total $79.75 million settlement in a class action lawsuit over its work at defunct Philip Services Corp. during the 1990s. The suit against Deloitte & Touche was filed on behalf of US shareholders in district court in New York. Philip Services, a Hamilton-based scrap metal and waste management company, shares soared and then collapsed after the company admitted in early 1998 that rogue traders had orchestrated an elaborate scheme to hide copper trading losses over three years. The suits central claim was that Philip's 1995 and 1996 financial statements were inaccurate because there was an overstatement of its copper inventory and other accounting issues. The settlement is believed to be largest amount ever paid by a Canadian auditing firm in a securities class action case. [GLOBE AND MAIL: DELOITTE FRAUD]