Bank Of America Agrees To $17 Billion Penalty For Selling Fraudulant Securities

Bank of America was hit with the largest penalty for selling toxic securities to investors.  Most of the bad securities were from Countrywide which BoA acquired along with Merrill Lynch during the financial crisis.  They did the government a favor that prevented Countrywide and Merrill from going into bankruptcy, but they were not aware of the size of the liabilities that they were getting when they made the acquisitions.  Countrywide's CEO had to pay a large fine because of the bad mortgages that were made on his watch.  Countrywide paid most of his legal fees and a good share of the fine.  He walked away from one of the biggest frauds in history with most of the wealth that he acquired during his reign as Countrywide's  top crook.  No criminal charges were filed by the Justice Department.