Carlyle to pay $20 million to end pension probe: Cuomo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private equity fund The Carlyle Group will pay a $20 million penalty to settle its role in an ongoing probe of investment firms that hired politically connected people to get hired to manage New York state's pension fund, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday.

The Carlyle Group also agreed to a new code of conduct that applies to its operations across the United States, which bans it from hiring any middlemen to open doors at public pension funds.

The new code, which Cuomo wants other investment firms to accept, also blocks them from managing pensions for two years if the firms, principals, employees and family members, have made political contributions to elected or appointed officials who have sway over investment decisions, the attorney general added in a statement.