LA TIMES-

A federal judge will soon decide how much Bank of America should pay for some of Countrywide Financial Corp.’s sins in the lead-up to the financial crisis.

Federal prosecutors want BofA to pay $864 million after the bank’s stinging defeat in a major civil fraud trial in October. A jury found BofA liable in a case centered on a Countrywide program called “The Hustle,” which churned out risky home loans before selling them to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

But whatever penalty the bank might pay, it will amount to a mere drop in the bucket of BofA’s legal bills — much of it stemming from its ill-fated acquisition of the former Calabasas mortgage lender in 2008.

“It’s chump change,” said Dick Bove, bank analyst at Rafferty Capital Markets.

[LA TIMES]