Secret Service agrees to pay $24 million in decades-old race-bias case brought by black agents

Then-acting Director of the United States Secret Service Joseph Clancy (2nd right) arrives to brief Senate Judiciary Committee staff members in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill October 7, 2014. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

By Carol D. Leonnig January 17 at 11:56 PM

The Secret Service agreed Tuesday to pay $24 million to settle a two-decade-old case in which more than 100 black agents alleged that the agency fostered a racist culture and routinely promoted white agents over more qualified African Americans, according to documents filed in court and interviews with representatives of both sides.
As part of the deal, which is the result of a push in the waning days of the Obama administration, the agency admits to no wrongdoing or institutional bias.
But the payments to the agents — including lump sums as high as $300,000 each to the original eight plaintiffs — are intended to remedy the sting of the discrimination the agents say they suffered and the job opportunities they lost, according to interviews with representatives from both sides.
Jennifer Klar, the lead attorney for the black agents, described her clients as thrilled with a result they hope will prevent future discrimination in the agency.
“At long last . . . black Secr