Thursday, February 27, 2014

Bank of America challenges $2.1B in 'Hustle' penalties

The U.S. government's request for Bank of America to pay a $2.1 billion penalty in the so-called “Hustle” case is legally flawed, the Charlotte-based bank argued in court papers filed late Wednesday.

The government is seeking penalties against the bank after a jury found Countrywide Financial Corp. guilty of knowingly selling bad home loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the run-up to the housing crisis. The bank bought Countrywide in 2008.

The government initially sought $864 million in penalties. The $2.1 billion figure represent the gross revenue the bank made from the sale of the loans, according to the government’s calculations.

"In it's most dramatic departure from reality, the government would count toward Countrywide's 'gain' the principal amounts Countrywide lent to borrowers in originating the loans," the bank said in its filing.

"Countrywide did not 'gain' $2.1 billion by any stretch of the term; it simply recovered amounts that it had previously paid out," the bank said.

The bank said it suffered a net loss of at least $3 million from the poor performance of the loans.

The government's claim for $2.1 billion is "contrary to law" and unfair to the bank, the bank says.

3 comments:

Garth Vader said...

"At least Bank of America got its name right. The ultimate Too Big to Fail bank really is America, a hypergluttonous ward of the state whose limitless fraud and criminal conspiracies we'll all be paying for until the end of time. Did you hear about the plot to rig global interest rates? The $137 million fine for bilking needy schools and cities? The ingenious plan to suck multiple fees out of the unemployment checks of jobless workers? Take your eyes off them for 10 seconds and guaranteed, they'll be into some sh** again: This bank is like the world's worst-behaved teenager, taking your car and running over kittens and fire hydrants on the way to Vegas for the weekend, maxing out your credit cards in the three days you spend at your aunt's funeral. They're out of control, yet they'll never do time or go out of business, because the government remains creepily committed to their survival, like overindulgent parents who refuse to believe their 40-year-old live-at-home son could possibly be responsible for those dead hookers in the backyard."

- Matt Taibbi, "
Bank of America: Too Crooked to Fail" March 14, 2012

ROBRAY said...

Amen, Amen, Amen to Garth Vader's post. Some people need to be in jail, nothing but thieves.

Anonymous said...

Bank of America should be fined more than being asked by the government. She is nothing but a "crook" and now is the time for her to pay up or shut up. Anytime no one is looking she is finding crooked ways to fatten her accounts. When the American people quit using these banks and start finding other financial institutions to do their business with then and only then will the banks start acting like LEGAL financial institutions. Come on, Bank of America, you got caught so go ahead and pay the fine. The fine should be almost $6 billion considering the LIES Bank of America has been caught in.