Investment banks including CIBC, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Merrill Lynch and Co. Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group, Morgan Stanley and others have agreed to contribute US$99 million to settle a class action lawsuit over their role as underwriters of former telecom provider Golden Crossing Ltd.

In an agreement preliminarily approved by Judge Gerard Lynch in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, this group of leading investment banks has agreed to partricipate in a settlement that has previously netted $245 million from officers and directors of Global Crossing — including $30 million from the company’s co-founder and former chairman Gary Winnick — as well as US$75 million from Citigroup and Salomon Smith Barney, US$25 million from accounting firm Arthur Andersen, and US$19.5 million from law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

With the latest payments to be added by the underwriters, the total Global Crossing settlement now stands at $444 million.

The investment banks were targeted for their role as financial advisors to Global Crossing and its affiliate Asia Global Crossing in issuing debt and equity in 2000 and 2001.

Goldman Sachs is making the largest single contribution among the investment banking defendants with $42.1 million. It’s followed by Merrill Lynch (US$19.16 million), CIBC (US$17.3 million), JP Morgan ($3.78 million), Credit Suisse ($6.68 million), Morgan Stanley ($2.9 million), along with Bear Stearns Cos., Deutsche Bank AG, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., ABN Amro Holding NV and others.

In June, Judge Lynch upheld claims against Microsoft Corp. and Japanese telecom company Softbank Corp., leaving those two companies as the final defendants in a case tied to the collapse of Global Crossing in 2002, based on enormous misstatement of the company’s assets and financial health.

“We are very pleased that the investment banks have agreed to resolve their portion of the case,” said Jay Eisenhofer, the plaintiff’s lawyer and name parter at noted securities and corporate governance law firm Grant & Eisenhofer, of the latest settlement. “The original Global Crossing was a failure on many levels, and certainly one significant factor was the role plalyed by financial underwriters in touting securities whose true value was vastly overstated.”