In a joint announcement yesterday with the SEC and state regulators, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced an historic settlement with Bank of America totaling $16.65 billion in penalties and consumer relief — the “largest civil settlement with a single entity in history,” Holder stated. The settlement concerns the government’s allegations that BofA (and Merrill Lynch and Countrywide, which BofA has since acquired) defrauded financial institutions and other investors in structured financial products known as residential mortgage-backed securities, or RMBS.
