Maxwell’s Auditor Agrees to Pay $108 Million

Coopers & Lybrand agreed to pay more than $108 million for its role in the affairs of the late media baron Robert Maxwell. Coopers & Lybrand, which merged with Price Waterhouse in 1998 to form PricewaterhouseCoopers, was the auditor for Maxwell Communication Corp. Maxwell disappeared from his yacht in 1991 under mysterious circumstances. Earlier that year, his empire collapsed. Company administrators sued Coopers & Lybrand for $160 million, saying it failed to spot any problems at Maxwell’s corporation. The accounting firm will pay the settlement in three stages, with $8 million payable immediately, $56 million due in July, and a final $44.2 million payable in July 2000. The money will be used to pay Maxwell Communication creditors.