A U.S. housing regulator is seeking at least $6 billion from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to settle civil claims the bank sold bad mortgage bonds to government-backed finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in June, according to a filing in federal court in Manhattan. The FHFA sued JPMorgan and 17 other banks over faulty mortgage bonds two years ago in an effort to recoup some of the losses taxpayers were forced to cover when the government took over the failing mortgage finance companies in 2008. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are regulated by FHFA, have taken $187.5 billion in federal aid since then.
