Alistair Barr of MarketWatch has this article on AIG's mammoth $1.6 billion settlement with the SEC, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the New York State Insurance Department.  According to the article, half of this amount will be distributed to investors through the SEC.

The article observes that the SEC settlement

won't stop investors from continuing to pursue their own claims, said Anthony Sabino, a business law professor at St. John's University's Peter J. Tobin College of Business.

"There are a ton of investor lawsuits against AIG," he said. "Unless these parties have specifically agreed to stop pursuing their claims, today's settlement won't help."

Private securities litigation settlements often end up being larger than those negotiated with regulators, said Bruce Carton, a vice president at ISS' Securities Class Action Services, which tracks legal settlements. (See tables below).

For example, WorldCom settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission for $750 million, but securities class action settlements have topped $6 billion, according to data from Securities Class Action Services.