California pensions, consumers get $800 million from Bank of America case

BY DALE KASLER
dkasler@sacbee.comAugust 21, 2014 Updated 3 minutes ago

FILE - This Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014 file photo shows a Bank of America sign in Philadelphia. Officials familiar with the deal say Bank of America on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014 has reached a record $17 billion settlement with federal and state authorities over its role in the sale of mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.
MATT ROURKE, FILE — AP Photo





California will get an $800 million share of the record-breaking $16.65 billion Bank of America Corp. is paying to settle claims over the packaging and sale of toxic mortgage securities.

The state’s consumers will get $500 million in “consumer relief credits,” including at least $380 million in principal forgiveness, California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced today.


The state’s pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, will split $300 million to cover losses they suffered purchasing the securities marketed by BofA. It wasn’t immediately clear how that sum will be divided.


“Bank of America profited by misleading investors about the risky nature of the mortgage-backed securities it sold,” Harris said in a press release. “This settlement makes our pension funds whole for the financial losses.”


It represents the third major settlement for CalPERS and CalSTRS in less than a year over investment in mortgage-backed securities. A month ago, Citigroup Inc. agreed to pay nearly $200 million to the two pension funds. Last November, the two funds collected $300 million from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.


Nationally, the BofA settlement is the largest civil settlement with a single entity in American history, the U.S. Justice Department said.


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