(May 12, 2017, 12:30 PM EDT) -- NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on May 9 granted preliminary approval of a $165 million securities class action settlement between shareholders and certain underwriters of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) alleged to have taken part in a fraudulent scheme to misrepresent the underwriting standards they used in the offering documents for a series of MBS (New Jersey Health Fund v. Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, et al., No. 08-5310, S.D. N.Y.)....