Sumitomo May Pay $42.5 Million to Settle Copper Class Action

Sumitomo Corp. agreed Friday to pay $42.5 million to settle a California lawsuit, the last class-action claim stemming from one of the largest commodity trading scandals ever.

Sumitomo, Japan’s third-largest trading company, said it will settle a suit filed in July 1996 on behalf of construction companies and contractors that bought copper products between Jan. 1, 1993, and July 1, 1996, largely construction companies and contractors who buy copper pipe.

The dispute stems from the June 1996 disclosure that Sumitomo’s chief copper trader, Yasuo Hamanaka, hid $2.6 billion worth of losses in an attempt to prop up global copper prices. Hamanaka in March was sentenced to eight years in prison. Friday’s settlement resolves all public claims against Sumitomo.

The company admitted no wrongdoing under the proposed California settlement, which consolidated two suits filed in Superior Court in San Diego. If approved by the court, it would conclude all outstanding class-action litigation against Sumitomo.