General Electric has reached “an agreement in principle” with the Department of Justice, with GE to pay a civil penalty of $1.5 billion concerning its now-defunct WMC mortgage business, the company announced in an earnings report today, Jan. 31.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...