NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government urged that Bank of America Corp pay $863.6 million in damages after a federal jury found it liable for fraud over defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit.
In a filing late Friday in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the government also asked for penalties against Rebecca Mairone, a former midlevel executive at the bank's Countrywide unit who the jury also found liable, "commensurate with her ability to pay."
The government said the penalties were necessary to punish the bank and Mairone "and to send a clear and unambiguous message that mortgage fraud for profit will not be tolerated."
(Nov, 9, 2013)
http://finance.yahoo.com/...
I have often been bemused by the repeated claims that bank CEO's are "criminals" often levied here. The truth is that high level execs don't do the work at the transaction level and thus can never be found culpable in such matters.
Nevertheless,
The October 23 verdict was a major victory for the U.S. Department of Justice, which along with other regulators has been criticized by investors, politicians and others for failing to hold banks and individuals accountable for their roles in events leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.
As individuals are held accountable look for more penalties to be assessed against mid-level managers at the former Countrywide, Great Western, IndyMac, and Washington Mutual units. They did all the dirty work.