THE BANKSTER'S PAYOUTS ARE NEAR $120 BILLION

This did NOT make the front page of Yahoo News but it should have.

Bank of America settles mortgage probes for $16.65 billion

By Aruna Viswanatha, Jonathan Stempel and Peter Rudegeair

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:09pm EDT
REUTERS

(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) reached a record $16.65 billion settlement with the U.S. government to settle charges that it and companies it bought misled investors into buying troubled mortgage-backed securities, helping the bank close a major chapter tied to the financial crisis.

The settlement announced on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice calls for the second-largest U.S. bank by assets to pay $9.65 billion in cash to resolve more than a dozen federal and state investigations, and provide $7 billion in help to struggling homeowners and communities.

Under the out-of-court settlement, Bank of America acknowledged that Merrill Lynch told investors in subprime mortgage bonds in 2006 and 2007 that the loans generally complied with underwriting guidelines, though reviews suggested as many as 50 percent did not.