STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with a verdict against Bank of America.
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INSKEEP: Last night, a jury in New York found the bank liable for fraud after a month-long civil trial. It was considered a win for the Justice Department's prosecution of misdeeds during the financial crisis. Federal prosecutors argued that a division of Bank of America, Countrywide Financial, wrote bad home mortgages to people clearly unable to repay the loans.
Countrywide then sold those mortgages to the government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and, of course, many loans later failed. The judge is set to hear arguments December 5th on the government's request for a fine of $848 million. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.