Bank of America Corp. and former Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis took big steps to put the financial crisis behind them by paying state and federal agencies to settle lawsuits over the acquisitions of Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co., the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Charlotte, N.C.-based lender said yesterday that it would pay $9.5 billion to settle mortgage claims with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and their federal regulator. Bank of America also agreed to pay the state of New York $15 million to end a civil lawsuit by New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman alleging that the bank duped shareholders by failing to disclose mounting losses at Merrill before buying the securities firm in a rushed deal struck in 2008 near the height of the financial crisis. The bank neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in both settlements.
