What Does Wikileaks Have on Bank of America?

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is promising to unleash a cache of secret documents from the hard drive of a U.S. megabank executive. In 2009, he told Computer World that the bank was Bank of America (BofA). In 2010 he told Forbes that the information was significant enough to "take down a bank or two," but that he needed time to lay out the information in a more user-friendly format.

Recent new reports suggest that BofA is now moving into high gear on damage control, creating a "war room" and buying up hundreds of derogatory Internet domain names including BankofAmericaSucks.com and BrianMoynihanblows.com (referring to BofA's Chief Executive Officer).

Before the big banks start calling for Assange's internment at Guantanamo, the question worth considering is what does Wikileaks have on America's largest bank?

Legal Liability for Toxic Mortgages

BofA is already under the gun, defending itself from multiple lawsuits from private investors as well as Fannie and Freddie demanding that the bank buy back billions worth of toxic mortgages-backed securities. The firm stopped issuing subprime mortgages in 2001, but it kept underwriting subprime mortgage-backed securities for many years. In September 2009, for example, BofA underwrote $239 million worth of securities backed by subprime loans. BofA has reserved a mere $4.4 billion for these "put back" lawsuits. If Assange has emails showing that top executives at BofA knew they were peddling toxic dreck to investors, it would rock the firm and give tremendous ammunition to the army of lawyers already knocking on BofA's door.

Reckless and Illegal Foreclosures

BofA is at the heart of the robo-signing scandal and has wrongfully foreclosed on countless American families. One poor woman returned to a vacation home to find it locked, all her possessions gone -- including the ashes of her late husband. How could such a mistake be made? A BofA employee deposed in February 2010 said that she signed as many as 8,000 foreclosure documents a month without reviewing them, in violation of the law. Mounting questions about the fraudulent and illegal foreclosure practices at the big banks and mortgage service companies prompted BofA to temporarily halt foreclosures nationwide in October, 2010. If Wikileaks can document that top BofA officials have a callous disregard for legal processes and constitutionally protected property rights, BofA's mounting legal liability may not be sustainable.

Headaches Left Over from Countrywide

In 2008, BofA acquired Countrywide, one of the most aggressive and fraudulent lenders during the housing bubble. The result has been a train wreck of liability and lawsuits for the megabank that now has over 1.3 million customers in foreclosure. To settle the lawsuits with Illinois, California and eight other states over predatory lending, BofA came up with an $8.4 billion loan relief plan for those holding Countrywide mortgages. In June, 2010 BofA paid $108 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission case that charged Countrywide with having extracted excessive fees out of borrowers facing foreclosure. BofA paid $600 million in August 2010 to settle shareholder claims that Countrywide had concealed the riskiness of its lending standards. There is no end in sight for these types of claims, and more. In June, 2010 the State of Illinois sued Countrywide again, this time over racial discrimination in its lending practices. Wikileaks could have further documentation of Countrywide's illegal and reckless underwriting practices or ongoing fraud at BofA.

Illegal Bonuses Paid by Taxpayers

Bank of America acquired the brokerage firm Merrill Lynch for $50 billion in January 2009. The U.S. government blessed the merger with a $20 billion bailout loan to aid BofA. After the acquisition went through, it was revealed that Merrill Lynch had lost $15.8 billion in the last quarter of 2008 and that $3.6 billion in bonuses were paid ahead of schedule to top executives at Merrill. Among beneficiaries of the bonus bonanza was Merrill's CEO John Thain, who famously spent a million redecorating his office at the height of the crisis. About the deal New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said: "One disturbing question that must be answered is whether Merrill Lynch and Bank of America timed the bonuses in such a way as to force taxpayers to pay for them through the deal funding." If Wikileaks has emails showing top executives knowingly used bailout bucks for bonuses, this ugly chapter in history could be reopened, prompting Congressional investigations and further bailout backlash.

Still Too Big to Fail

In addition to the $25 billion in TARP bailout money and the $20 billion for purchasing Merrill, America recently learned of the extraordinary actions taken by the Federal Reserve to prop up BofA at the height of the crisis, details that were kept secret from the public. When the Fed was forced to release data about its emergency loan programs in December 2010, we found that BofA tapped an estimated $931 billion from the Fed in short term loans and government subsidies. If Wikileaks has information showing that America's biggest bank is only being kept alive by accounting tricks and ongoing government subsidies, the result could be another government bailout or potentially the orderly dissolution of a firm that is "too big to fail" and still poses a threat to our nation's economy.

"We Don't Suck"

BofA doesn't just want you to know that their CEO Brian Moynihan doesn't suck, they want you to know that their top staff does not suck either. The bank has started buying damaging domain names for a long list of executives, prompting many to wonder: just what have those executives been up to over there at BofA?

Hopefully Wikileaks and Julian Assange will soon let us know.


Learn more about America's biggest bank in the Sourcewatch profile of the bank.

Mary Bottari

Mary Bottari is a reporter for the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). She helped launch CMD's award-winning ALEC Exposed investigation and is a two-time recipient of the Sidney Prize for public interest journalism from the Sidney Hillman Foundation.

Comments

In a way these revelations aren't surprising. There was bound to be something on the Bank of America after all what banks have done to the economy.

Bank of America is a criminal organization but without the Wikileaks' documents nothing will bring them down. The Fed will keep propping it up and the bank will keep mistreating it's customers and ruining countless lives. I honestly wish whoever has these documents would release them to the public a soon as possible. I have put up with this banks neglect, so called mistakes that takes weeks on the phone to straighten out. I can imagine that most people have to earn a living and can't fight them the way I was able to do. Their "loan Modification" program was a joke which caused already hurting mortgage holders a great deal of grief. I think a great many Americans are so tired of seeing crooked corporations get all the help from Washington (with our tax dollars) while the public is ignored that it would lift our spirits to see a modicum of justice. I won't be satisfied until the culprits who deregulated the banks get punished too. That includes a very long list of very high up people including formers presidents.

"...[W]e found that BofA tapped an estimated $931 billion from the Fed in short term loans and government subsidies." So, were those lots and lots of little loans? If so, it evokes a delicious fantasy: hordes of petty government bureaucrats robo-signing reams of default papers on B of A.

$931 Billion from the Fed to help out Bank of America, but we can't afford a Medicare for All health care plan that would save $400 Billion per year while assuring every American that ongoing preventive, curative and palliative care would always be available to him or her. That would be "socialism," you see. It would be giving money to folks who didn't earn it, y'know.

There is also the issue of the "Lost Note Affidavit", highlighted by the recent Massachusetts verdict against Wells Fargo and US Bancorp. The question raised by this case is why the Notes and/or Deeds were never properly transferred to the trust used to create the mortgage backed securities. This implies that the "Mortgage Backed Securities" are not in fact backed by mortgages, but instead are unsecured debt securities. This is the dirty secret no Wall Street Bank wants to discuss, which is why "All Notes Are Lost" in every foreclosure action brought by the Mortgage Electronic Registry System. Not only do the Wall Street Banks lack standing to foreclose, but they owe full refunds to the purchasers of "Mortgage Backed Securities" based on the contract's Representations and Warranties. This will be the next $2.4 Trillion bailout.

the collapse of the USA is coming, no jobs, people losing their homes,fighting two wars, greedy bankers who don't care about the people, why should they, they have all the money and politicians in their control. We can see the collapse happening in other parts of the world, think it won't here, think again, when people are hungry, homeless and have had enough, the have not's will go after the have's. "we'll be fighting in the streets with our children at our feet" spam and ammo!