美国银行to Pay $16.65 Billion to Settle DOJ Mortgage Probe

美国银行(BAC)和the U.S. Department of Justice have arrived at a $16.65 billion mortgage settlement. Under the agreement, the lender will pay $9.65 billion to the DOJ, the SEC, other government agencies, and six states. The remaining $7 billion will be paid in the form of aid to struggling consumers. This is the largest settlement between the U.S. and just one company. It resolves claims not just against Bank of America, but also against its current and past subsidiaries, including Merrill Lynch and Countrywide Financial Corporation.

The numerous probes now resolved involve the packaging, sale, marketing, structuring, and issuance of collateralized debt obligations andresidential mortgage-backed securities, as well as mortgage loan origination and underwriting practices. As part of the settlement, the bank issued a statement of facts acknowledging that it did not disclose key information to investors about the quality of billions of dollars of RMBS that it sold to them. When the securities failed, investors, including financial institutions that were federally insured, lost billions of dollars. Bank of America acknowledges that it originated mortgage loans that were high-risk and made misrepresentations about the loans to the Federal Housing Administration, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae.

Merrill Lynch and Countrywide made a lot of the loans at issue before Bank of America purchased both entities in 2008. However, the government also had a problem with Bank of America’s own mortgage securities, as well as the latter’s attempts to circumvent internal underwriting standards by revising the financial data of applicants.

The bank is just one of several lenders accused of knowingly giving credit to borrowers who couldn’t afford the loans and then selling the mortgages to investors. When borrowers defaulted on the loans, they went into foreclosure. This cost investors big time.

作为和解的一部分，该银行将支付50亿美元，以解决《金融机构改革，恢复和执法法》下的司法部索赔。该交易还解决了联邦存款保险公司，伊利诺伊州，bob200体育加利福尼亚州，肯塔基州，特拉华州，马里兰州，纽约州和北卡罗来纳州西区美国检察官办公室的证券索赔。对消费者的救济将包括主要的减少贷款修改，向有价值的借款人提供的新贷款，帮助社区仍然从金融危机中恢复的资金以及负担得起的租金住房的融资。

同时，加利福尼亚州洛杉矶的检察官正准备对前国家首席执行官安吉洛·莫齐洛（Angelo Mozilo）和其他前国家主管提出民事诉讼。司法部三年前放弃了对莫齐洛的犯罪调查。尽管如此，其他人仍在试图使他对他对抵押贷款的处理方式负责。2010年，SEC命令Mozilo支付6750万美元，以解决他误导全国投资者的指控。这项交易使他避免对民事欺诈和内幕交易指控进行审判。现在，也援引洛杉矶的美国检察官办公室的援引Firrea，正准备起诉Mozilo和其他人。

美国银行settles mortgage probes for $16.65 billion，路透社，2014年8月21日

Deal Done: Bank of America, Justice sign $16.7 billion deal over bad mortgages, BizJournals, August 21, 2014

Countrywide CEO Mozilo settles with SEC for $67.5M, The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor/AP, October 15, 2010

Countrywide的Mozilo说，面对美国的贷款诉讼, Bloomberg, August 20, 2014

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美国银行Settles Mortgage Bond Claims with FHFA for $9.3B, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, March 29, 2014

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