What Does WikiLeaks Have on Bank of America?

Thursday 13 January 2011

by: Mary Bottari | Campaign for America's Future | Report

What Does WikiLeaks Have on Bank of America?
(Photo: petekraynak; Edited: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t)

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 (BofA's CEO).

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 $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.

Countrywide Headaches

In 2008, BofA acquired Countrywide, one of the most aggressive and fraudulent lenders during the housing bubble. The result has been a trainwreck 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 suits. 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.

Taxpayer Paid Bonuses

BofA 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 is it possible we might see the first orderly dissolution of a of a "too big to fail" under the new Wall Street reform law?

"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.

All republished content that appears on Truthout has been obtained by permission or license.

Comments

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bankofamericasucks.com

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 10:32 — BenB (not verified)

bankofamericasucks.com doesn't look very bought-up to me...

Well done Mary - but the

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 10:58 — Totally Fucking Corrupt (not verified)

Well done Mary - but the ironic hilarity of your article is what does the USA *already have* on this massive financial terrorist???! Volumes full! - including a call for receivership last Fall by leading academics.

We'll get you Bank Of

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 11:18 — Anonymous (not verified)

We'll get you Bank Of America.
Expect Us.

Each year BoA yearly

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 11:31 — Anonarcmous (not verified)

Each year BoA yearly systematically seeks out certain population categories: elders, students, everyone on social security, any company purchasing, any state or federal governement purchasing, state income and feral incomes paied out, federal employees, healthcare insurance or benefits recipients, then all the employees in healthcare, etc and targets these groups. BoA employees are given at least $40[+5yrs ago] for each person they sign up to use BoA services.

What went on with B of A

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 12:15 — Anonymous (not verified)

What went on with B of A simply shows that scavenger capitalism cannot happen without scavenging. It's an inherently bankrupt (excuse the pun) system which requires fraud, hypocrisy, lying, stealing, and wars to succeed. Obama stands like a guardian over the phenomenon of scavenger capitalism. He had a golden opportunity to usher in a whole new era of conscious capitalism, but instead of letting the crooks fail, and a trail of new, smaller banks arise in their wake, he bailed them out with taxpayers money. Now this is the same President who is cooperating with the Republicans to steal more tax payer monies by directing them to private investments by slowly defunding the public program known as Social Security. Someone should interview Obama about his REAL FEELINGS about FDR someday, I mean really forcing questions to Smiley Mouth until we squeeze the poison from his lips. What we needed in Obama was another FDR. What we got was Ronald Reagan the Second.

If you think Wikileaks has

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 12:28 — Anonymous (not verified)

If you think Wikileaks has problems now just wait until BOA gets through with them.

To those who say: " I 'must'

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 14:38 — Anonymous (not verified)

To those who say:
" I 'must' move my money." What are you waitingn for? I left BoA about 10 years ago. I had never opened an account with them. Instead they had bought up a slightly smaller shark who had bought up a slightly smaller shart etc. down to the local bank that I had started with. I bet this is how BoA has obtained a lot of its accounts. By buying up other banks. I never liked them and I got outta there as fast as I could, to a very nice regional bank that later turned up on the HuffPost's list of good community banks. It is easy to move your money. Stop talking and start doing.

Carefully vet a credit

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 14:42 — JadeQueen (not verified)

Carefully vet a credit union, then transfer your money. Some of them operate as badly as banks, with onerous fees and poor lending and interest practices, compared with others. Watch out for the management-enrichment top-down, no-recourse form of operation. It affects things called coops as well as corporations. The only way to know the difference is to do the due diligence or have someone you trust do it. The fine print allows things to do the opposite of what their titles imply these days. Some states and alert local news operations keep an eye out for this, but most do not. You have to have lively competition in your small, local papers to have a chance of this working for you.

They don't suck. They

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 14:43 — Anonymous (not verified)

They don't suck. They blow...dog.

I really do hope that the

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 15:00 — Anonymous (not verified)

I really do hope that the "ripple" effect from tunisia will hit the states. As we have seen in the past few months alone, so many dark truths have come to light.

I despise the US media for not reporting certain events throughout the Wikileaks revelations... But it does not go to say everyone is being "gagged". I am sure there are plenty of people who realise that the american government is starting to look like a terrorist organization in itself... with the blackmail against foreign officials and slaughtering of innocent families. They should be put behind bars for their war-crimes.

I can only hope the BofA leaks will kickstart a revolution in the states.

And......whatcha gonna do?

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 15:16 — Abner Malady (not verified)

And......whatcha gonna do? After the Pentagon papers came out, the war continued on....and tons of ordinates where dropped for a LONG time. Well, these guys are financial terroists who deserve a big drone strike....And they'll probobly get a "bad bank" pooh pooh. So whatcha gonna do is my question?

I( quit BofA several years

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 15:16 — Anonymous (not verified)

I( quit BofA several years ago when all the many people working there for all my life were one by one replaced with many who barely spoke english. I tried to make a deposit and the woman started counting out the deposit as One two three it would have taken her an hour, I grabed back my deposit and she grabed it back saying I can do it! I yelled in my NewYork loudest to give it back. She was still there when I moved my account over to the bank Chase has since stolen. I only use a credit union now that only charges 9.99% on the credit card as opposed to the 29.99% chase charges refinanced my car with a new low rate. could not be happier.

Let's cash in and all short

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 15:23 — ViewFromTheMountain (not verified)

Let's cash in and all short BofA stock and all laugh all the way to our respective LOCAL consumer credit unions !!!!

Julian Assange for President

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 15:29 — YourLocalGardenerAndDogWalker (not verified)

Julian Assange for President in any and EVERY nation he wants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It could very well deal with

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 15:53 — Anonymous (not verified)

It could very well deal with the actual fact that Bank of America's violation of laws, by it's illegal, unverified accounts, and lines of credit to illegal aliens, using fraudulent documentation, allowing said illegals to bilk the taxpayers, ultimately, because they could walk away, while we were left on the hook, also lead to substantial money laundering and other taxpayer bilking scams by bigger time illegal aliens in the drug cartels as well as terrorists. It has lead to BoA getting rather cozy with these types, here, and in the Arab world. There's a lot that BoA and others, including Saudi owned Citibank and Indian owned AIG that sucked hundreds of billions of dollars of US tax dollars out of the US.. what's more, Obama, the democrat leadership and George W. Bush haven't cared one little bit.

When i was in college, my

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 16:55 — Anonymous (not verified)

When i was in college, my parents compelled me, despite my objections based on their treatment, to go with BofA to make it easiser for them to transfer money.

As a result, We as a family must have lost easily 500 a year on fraudulent NSF fees where they put unreasonable holds on transfers or checks, or played with the numbers to make sure deposits which should by all reasonable stretches of the imagination have been there long before debits.

The moment I could I pulled my accounts, and I won't even touch their atms now with a 10 foot pole.

Whatever they get, they deserve, the thieving scoundrels.

Julian assange is a angel. I

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 16:56 — Anonymous (not verified)

Julian assange is a angel.

I pray for his safety

Bless you!

B A + B P = F(U)SA

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 16:58 — Anonymous (not verified)

Break up the banks and make

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 16:59 — Anonymous (not verified)

Break up the banks and make every state create one like ND, which owes allegiance to the PEOPLE who put money in that bank. In the meantime, go to http://moveyourmoneyproject.org/ and leave the big banks high and dry; I put our savings in a local bank in 2008 and have never looked back.

with bigwigs and King makers

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 18:47 — Anonymous (not verified)

with bigwigs and King makers like James A. Johnson on Boards for institutions like Countrywide Savings I find it difficult to believe that anything meaningful will come from another Wikileak or Congressional Hearing/Investigation. We legislate against bad behavior but we do not enforce the legislation so the bad behavior continues and the problem multiplies. The leaks are not as telling as our non-response to them.

...and, it would be

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 19:00 — Bakunin (not verified)

...and, it would be interesting to see what's gone on with Goldman Sachs' favorite wholly owned servicer, Litton Loan

I can, do follow all of W,L

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 19:12 — Darleng (not verified)

I can, do follow all of W,L and all that is dripping out but I feel it is futal due to the Masses of uneducated in this country. Government or is this a Dictatorship? Greed, Criminals. Terrorist -they live in that BiG WHITE HOUSE!

And I thought BCCI was

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 19:20 — Bearzerker (not verified)

And I thought BCCI was bad...
and goes to prove the fact that you never throw stones if you live in a glass house.

Big Banks, War criminals,

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 21:36 — Paul W (not verified)

Big Banks, War criminals, lying politicians, and all the assholes who get rich off the backs of decent people, be warned:

WIKILEAKS IS WATCHING YOU!

Now we begin to know who you are, and what you've done, your time will come.
Sign on with a Credit Union. BOYCOTT the big bastards! All they care about is money. So hit them where it hurts! BOYCOTT! BOYCOTT! BOYCOTT!

probably what Wikileaks has

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 21:53 — Not Confused (not verified)

probably what Wikileaks has on B of A is how many strings they have pulled on our puppet Government after honing their skills on South and Central America. Perhaps there is some dirt on the WTO or info on how they killed some foreign politicians that objected to turning their workers into serfs. Or how they bought our own US politicians so they can turn American workers into there serfs?

This is fabulous. Assange is

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 23:42 — mediasavy (not verified)

This is fabulous. Assange is my hero. And I haven't said that about a public figure in decades. Bank of America needs to be destroyed.

Here's hoping that Wikileaks breaks this scandal open so wide, that our useless president is forced to do something to address the rampant fraud that defines their industry. Perhaps then our banker's boy of a president will step in to defend homeowners and everyone else these predators have harmed.

I'm sure that will be a sad day for him. All those lost campaign contributions, how will he ever make up the difference?

Bank of America was

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 23:52 — Anonymous (not verified)

Bank of America was established in order to have a money laundering institution for the Mafia, some historians have argued.
And since they didn't have honorable people in the top management during their initial years, they never got out of their shit, one would think.

the banks(crooks and

Mon, 01/17/2011 - 01:34 — Anonymous (not verified)

the banks(crooks and liars) are unraveling,

their own behavior will be their demise...

it is assured...

There is much more

Mon, 01/17/2011 - 01:57 — Angela D (not verified)

There is much more information coming from Wikileaks about secret banking accounts of politicians, entertainers, CEO's, bankers, and who knows who else in Swiss banks or banks set up through Swiss banks done to avoid paying taxes. This information is being formatted in a user-friendly way and soon to be released.

Julian's problem seems to be at this time a lack of money since his cash flow channels have been blocked. He has recently made a book deal that will give him cash, but he is also running up legal bills. I suspect that this cash flow problem is likely slowing down some of his work. I hope that there are those who are willing to help him get this vital information out, though. Just imagine a world where we can actually trust our public figures because they have no place to hide! Wonderful! You go, Julian!!

Many years ago I had an

Mon, 01/17/2011 - 05:00 — Anonymous (not verified)

Many years ago I had an account with BOA and was happy to close it when I moved. They were so rude and unpleasant* throughout my relationship with them, they had all these seedy agreements with developers in the area, screwing tenants over; if you had to rent, you had to keep your money with BOA -- they wouldn't accept other banks -- they forced renters to put their money with them. I knew this area fairly well and they OOZED mafia. You could just feel this really screwed up energy throughout their banking establishment and people they hired. VERY strange mindset they were all in. Trickle down is no joke. When I left it was like getting something disgustingly IKKY wiped off me. I look forward to reading about them further. They should be OUTTED.

If you are looking for

Mon, 01/17/2011 - 06:50 — Anonymous (not verified)

If you are looking for another bank, Huffpost was running articles on moving your money to local banks, and they had website referrals where you could enter your area and find "clean" banks.

I recently went with a local bank and could not believe the difference! They are so much nicer, the service is more personal, and they have better deals all around. I visited 3 from the referrals, and the one I decided upon was just perfect for me.

It was a new experience for me actually having a positive experience with a bank.

Years ago I worked overseas

Mon, 01/17/2011 - 08:26 — Anonymous (not verified)

Years ago I worked overseas for an agency that dealt with a number of clients who worked for big US banks. Whatever mistaken idea I had about the intelligence and competence of bankers trickled away. They may have known the ins and outs of finance but were remarkably dim on the economy as a whole. And the worst were the ones with BofA. Some all but dribbled down their chins.

Recently moved from a biggie

Mon, 01/17/2011 - 08:48 — still learning (not verified)

Recently moved from a biggie to a local. Now will watch like a hawk to be sure they stay clean. Yes, it's a pita to change banks especially if you do automatic deposits and withdrawals, but worth it.

Assange is my hero. Don't anyone mess with him.

It's nothing to do with

Mon, 01/17/2011 - 10:10 — Anonymous (not verified)

It's nothing to do with mortgages... You need to look at the connection between BOA, Goldman Sacs, Lehman, and ML. This is where you will find paper trail, that leads to over $19B siphoned off, into offshore accounts; Cayman, Switzerland, Africa, Ireland, Netherlands... before crisis was made public. You have to remember; before they were "too big to fail", they didn't know that they were too big to fail. Many will fall, including high up Treasury officials.

Mon, 01/17/2011 - 10:12 — Anonymous (not verified)

Good advice about going with

Mon, 01/17/2011 - 11:19 — MG (not verified)

Good advice about going with a local credit union, unless you don't have any apparent good ones.

Here we see a definite (potential) benefit of Wikileaks: exposing corporate crimes. Why the wait to release the dirt? People continue to get foreclosed on, probably illegally in many cases.

BofA, or any corporate criminals, cannot be held to account too soon. I say release the docs ASAP and bring this house of cards down.

I started a new account with

Mon, 01/17/2011 - 12:07 — Anonymous (not verified)

I started a new account with a local bank last week.
This week, I close out my BofA account.
I don't agree with their business practices or their crazy high fees. Why wait for wiki?
Put YOUR money where your mouth is....if we all did this, BofA would go out of business.
Without money, they are certainly not a bank!

Have started the move of my

Tue, 01/18/2011 - 09:58 — Anonymous (not verified)

Have started the move of my elder parent's account from BOA to another bank. I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but this Wiki thing pushed me over the edge...I have to wait until her SS check deposits in the new account on 2-03 to withdraw all that's left at BOA and will be relieved that it's finally done.

USE NO PLASTIC More

Thu, 01/20/2011 - 08:33 — Anonymous (not verified)

USE NO PLASTIC

More finagling to make MORE tiny profits from MILLIONS of people while nobody notices--prepaid "debit" cards.

Bottom line is that if you pay with plastic, you are sending money to BOA, et al. This is part of what is killing off local merchants, in favor of BigCorp retailers. When you insist on paying them with plastic (credit OR debit) it costs them money, which often they simply cannot afford to pay. Buy local, pay in cash. Cut BigGovCorp out of your life now, if you possibly can. If not, work on it gradually until you are free of sending them YOUR money UP those old "trickle-down" pipes. THINK!

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What Does WikiLeaks Have on Bank of America?

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