NEW YORK (AP) — Citigroup is offering to pay $590 million to legal claims by shareholders that its executives dissembled about the bank's growing problems before the financial crisis.

The bank said Wednesday that it agreed to the deal to eliminate the cost and uncertainties associated with litigating the class-action suit. It denied the allegations.

The plaintiffs say Citigroup executives kept mum between February 2007 and April 2008 about huge losses the bank faced on complex mortgage investments. When the problem was disclosed, they say, Citigroup's share price plunged. They blame the bank for their losses.

The New York Bank says it already has set aside enough money to cover the cost of the settlement.

The settlement is subject to court approval. The case is pending in federal court in Manhattan.