Reports: Hedge fund execs to pay billions in tax settlement

NEW YORK (AP) — Published reports say executives at a New York hedge fund have agreed to pay as much as $7 billion to settle a long-running dispute with the U.S. tax authorities. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that insiders at Renaissance Technologies agreed to the deal that could be one of the largest in U.S. history. Among those in the settlement are Renaissance founder and prominent Democratic Party donor James Simon, and Robert Mercer, who was a major donor to former President Donald Trump’s campaign. Renaissance had been locked in a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service after a Senate investigation determined that the firm used complex financial instruments to avoid paying nearly $7 billion in taxes.