Forbes.com reports on Monday 16th, 2008, that the Citigroup Inc has settled charges that it engaged in improper accounting in regard to the impact of the economic and political crisis in Argentina in 2001, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday. The largest U.S. bank settled without paying a financial penalty and without admitting or denying the charges. The SEC said Citigroup avoided paying an additional $479 million in pre-tax charges in the fourth quarter of 2001 by not appropriately accounting for the impact of Argentina’s severe economy weakening. The overstated earnings allowed Citigroup to exceed earnings expectations by one cent per share, instead of reporting results five cents below consensus earnings estimates for the quarter, the SEC said. The bank in 2001 and 2002 took about $2.2 billion of charges related to Argentina.According to Forbes.com a Citigroup spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment. In the latter part of 2001 and into 2002, Argentina experienced a severe economic crisis during which the government defaulted on certain sovereign debt obligations, devalued its currency, and abandoned the one-to-one ratio between the Argentine peso and the U.S. dollar…Citigroup was impacted by the Argentine crisis through its ownership of Argentine government bonds, its ownership of more than $1 billion of consumer loans related to Argentina, and its disposition of a subsidiary that conducted banking operations in Argentina.