vvvslaxman Posted August 21, 2014 Posted August 21, 2014 http://www.theindianrepublic.com/tbp/hitler-loved-india-100046192.html The Justice Department announced Thursday that Bank of America will pay a record $16.65 billion fine to settle allegations that it knowingly sold toxic mortgages to investors. The sum represents the largest settlement between the government and a private corporation in the United States’ history, coming at the end of a long controversy surrounding the bank’s role in the recent financial crisis. In issuing bad subprime loans, some observers say, the bank helped fuel a housing bubble that would ultimately burst in late 2007, devastating the national and global economy. “We are here to announce a historic step forward in our ongoing effort to protect the American people from financial fraud – and to hold accountable those whose actions threatened the integrity of our financial markets and undermined the stability of our economy,†Attorney General Eric Holder said at a news conference announcing the settlement. Since the end of the financial crisis, the bank has incurred more than $60 billion in losses and legal settlements. Of the latest settlement, $7 billion will go to consumers faced with financial hardship. In turn, the bank largely exonerates itself from further federal scrutiny. However, not all is forgotten. The New York Times reports that federal prosecutors are preparing a new case against Angelo Mozilo, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial, which Bank of America acquired in mid-2008. As the country’s largest lender of mortgages, Countrywide Financial purportedly played a large role in distributing toxic loans. Mozilo has already paid the Securities and Exchange Commission a record $67.5 million settlement.
nballa Posted August 21, 2014 Posted August 21, 2014 if i can get just 1/10th of it, id live happily for atleast a few yrs.
gs Posted August 21, 2014 Posted August 21, 2014 No fan of Bank of America, but don't understand the basis for such a huge fine though. Some part of the fines were for the wrong doings of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch both of which absorbed into Bank of America at the behest and under the blessings of US Treasury at the peak of the financial crisis.
achilles Posted August 23, 2014 Posted August 23, 2014 $16.65 billion? Jesus Christ. That is staggering. I'm worried about people working there now. What if this Bank crumbles?
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