PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP ands its Bermuda affiliate have agreed to pay New Jersey $5.85 million to resolve allegations of fraud and accounting improprieties at Bermuda-based Tyco International Ltd.

According to a report on news website NorthJersey.com, the settlement, announced on Wednesday by the state's Attorney General Anne Milgram, resolves allegations brought by the state in a lawsuit filed in 2002 against PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tyco and several Tyco officers and directors. The suit charged that New Jersey's pension fund suffered substantial losses due to accounting improprieties, as well as to fraud and misuse of corporate funds by Tyco executives.

New Jersey alleges that PricewaterhouseCoopers contributed to losses incurred by the state's pension fund by violating generally accepted accounting principles and auditing standards in handling Tyco International's books. The money will be returned to the pension fund and other portfolios managed by the Division of Investment, state treasurer David Rousseau said.

Under terms of the settlement, PricewaterhouseCoopers made no admission of wrongdoing.

Tyco International paid the state of $73.25 million last year to settle allegations of insider trading, accounting improprieties and other fraud that resulted in significant losses for New Jersey's pension fund portfolio.

Dennis Kozlowski, Tyco's former chief executive and Mark Swartz, the company's chief financial officer, remain in jail after being convicted in New York on criminal charges in the case. The state's lawsuit against the two, as well as former Tyco director Frank E. Walsh Jr., is pending.

Tyco recently announced plans to move its domicile from Bermuda to Switzerland.

Messages left at PWC's Hamilton office were not answered by press time yesterday.