RIO DE JANEIRO, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian state oil company Petrobras announced Monday that it would pay almost 3 billion U.S. dollars in reparations to U.S. investors who were harmed by the corruption ring within the firm.

Brazil's largest company was sued in a class action lawsuit, which was approved on June 22 by a federal court in New York.

In a statement, Petrobras said the matter had now been "definitely" finalized.

The agreement between Petrobras and the investors had been signed in January but had not been approved by the U.S. justice system until now.

According to the deal, Petrobras will pay 2.95 billion U.S. dollars to its American shareholders. This sum is 6.5 times the amount Petrobras has recovered from funds embezzled in the corruption ring, which were then tracked, seized and returned by Brazilian police.

Petrobras stated that the agreement does not constitute an admission of guilt or irregularities as authorities have said the company was a victim of the corruption ring.

A ring made up of Petrobras executives, political figures and contractors embezzled billions of dollars from public contracts between 2003 and 2014.