An accounting firm lost its appeal of a judgment.

The Supreme Court refused to free Arthur Andersen & Co. from paying a $17-million fraud-and-negligence judgment stemming from a $300-million securities-related swindle. The firm was ordered to pay the money to Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co. The accounting firm had been accused of misrepresenting the financial health of Drysdale Government Securities Inc. in connection with its trading of repurchase agreements, or “repos.” Andersen & Co. was accused of certifying in an audit that Drysdale Securities had a net worth of $20.8 million when the brokerage house actually was $190 million in the red.