Philip Anschutz, the billionaire founder of Qwest Communications and a prominent Kansas University benefactor, agreed to give up $4.4 million of profits to settle charges that he unjustly profited from initial public offerings, New York State Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer said on Tuesday.

Anschutz, who neither admitted nor denied liability, also agreed to contribute an amount to charity roughly equal to his IPO profits, Spitzer said.

Spitzer last September charged Anschutz, who recently was worth $4.9 billion according to Forbes magazine, with illegally profiting from the now banned practice of IPO “spinning” in offerings arranged by the investment banking arm of Citigroup Inc. Spitzer said Anschutz was the first executive to disgorge profits from IPO spinning.

“Even though IPO spinning has been banned under the recent Wall Street accord, we continue to pursue appropriate remedies against individuals who were enriched unjustly,” Spitzer said in a statement posted on his Web site.

Citigroup and a spokesman for Anschutz did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Philip Anschutz, founder of Qwest Communications, will pay .4 million for accepting lucrative initial public offering shares in exchange for his firm's investment banking business. The settlement was announced Tuesday by New York State Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer.

Spitzer’s complaint alleged that Anschutz and officers of four telecommunications companies, including former WorldCom Inc. Chairman Bernard Ebbers and former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio, improperly received millions of dollars of lucrative IPO shares from Citigroup’s Salomon Smith Barney unit as an inducement or reward for investment banking business.

Spitzer alleged that Anschutz and the officers failed to disclose receipt of these shares.

Lawyers said settling the case might be seen as another victory for Spitzer and pressure the other defendants to settle.

Spitzer was central to engineering the $1.4 billion settlement over biased stock research with 10 Wall Street banks.

Under the settlement with Anschutz, six New York law schools will divide $1.2 million to fund securities arbitration clinics, while $3.2 million will go to nonprofit groups.

Anschutz is a 1961 graduate of KU’s business school and donated money to build the Marian & Fred Anschutz Science Library at the Lawrence campus.