NYC comptroller clears Central Park Five settlement

City Comptroller Scott Stringer has approved a proposed $41 million settlement with the five men who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned in the notorious rape of a jogger in Central Park in 1989.

The money would be divided based on how long each was locked up. About $7.125 million apiece would go to Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Raymond Santana Jr., who each served about seven years. Kharey Wise, in prison for twice as long, would get about $12.5 million, said Jonathan C. Moore of Manhattan, a plaintiffs' attorney. He wouldn't disclose the attorneys' share.

Stringer, who is legally required to review -- and approve or reject -- such settlements, called it "prudent and equitable" in a statement Thursday.

The last step is the signoff of U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts, who is presiding over the men's civil suit.

The case, involving the rape of a 28-year-old white woman who was beaten and left for dead, roiled racial tensions. The five black and Hispanic men, then teens, confessed. But a convicted rapist later said he committed the crime alone, and after DNA backed up his story, a judge expunged the convictions of the Central Park Five, as they came to be known.