Bank of America to Pay $137 Million in Muni Cases [conspiracy to rig bids]

[enough]

Source: Bloomberg (HT Max Keiser)

Bank of America Corp. agreed to pay $137 million in restitution for its involvement in a conspiracy to rig bids on 88 municipal bond contracts, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department said.

Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, agreed to pay $36 million to settle an SEC case. The bank will pay an additional $101 million to resolve investigations by other federal and state agencies, the SEC said.

Bank of America has been aiding a nationwide Justice Department antitrust probe of the $2.8 trillion municipal market since at least 2007 in return for leniency. The investigation has ensnared more than a dozen banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., UBS AG, and Wachovia Corp, which was acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. in 2008, according to documents filed in federal court.

The company’s “cooperation has led to an aggressive, ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice into anticompetitive activity in the municipal bond derivatives industry,” Christine Varney, who heads the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, said in a statement.

Bank of America won’t be prosecuted as long as it continues to cooperate with the government.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-07/bank-of-america-agrees-to-pay-137-million-in-sec-muni-bond-fraud-cases.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. Is that all ?

$137 Million. Probably makes it worth their while doing the same again.

[Hotler]

3. They were first to snitch.

Bank of America’s cooperation is an example of a Justice Department program under which the first company in a cartel to inform prosecutors about the illegal collusion is shown leniency. To small of a fine and no jail time.

[sarcasmo]

4. Two tier legal system. Few of the bankers go to jail.

[jtuck004]

2. OH MY GOD. $137 million? We're broke. We're DOOMED I tell you...oh wait

That's only a portion of the interest on just our http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/16/bank-of-america-q1-profit_n_540156.html">Q1 profit of $2.8 billion

Never mind.

Memo to all: Keep the Republicans, Democrats, and Tea Bangers fighting among themselves, and we
can keep raking this in!

Keep those suckers sales coming.

Bonuses coming soon!

[cutlassmama]

6. +1

[tomm2thumbs]

5. guess who's money that is? hmmmm.... /nt

[ozymandius]

7. So...

During the heyday, BoA would:

• casually provide kickbacks to their partisans;
• use proxies to shoo away the competition in classic anti-competitive behavior;
• engage in deals that have resulted in guilty pleas for fraud;
• operate an insider trading racket to sweeten their earnings.

Beyond this, contracts were written to rip off taxpayers. Just seems to be business as usual for your local bankster.

So I wonder how much BoA made off these deals. Could a $137 Million fine just be the cost of doing bidness?

[Skink]

8. more fee's on the way.

[glinda]

9. I like the "protected by the Government" part the best. Especially if there is

stuff in WIKI coming out on them. How convenient to have Government protection.