Deutsche Bank AG will pay $55 million to settle charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging that the banking giant filed financial reports during the height of the financial crisis that failed to take into account a material risk for potential losses estimated to be in the billions of dollars. Deutsche Bank neither admitted nor denied the SEC's findings in the order. The bank was represented by William Johnson of King & Spalding in New York. An SEC investigation found that Deutsche Bank overvalued a portfolio of derivatives consisting of "leveraged super senior" (LSS) trades through which the bank purchased protection against credit default losses. Because the trades were leveraged, the collateral posted for these positions by the sellers was only a fraction — approximately 9 percent — of the $98 billion total in purchased protection.