Bank of America 'Hindered' Feds' Investigation

Given the chance to come clean on its robo-signing scandal, Bank of America instead dug in its heels and “significantly hindered” the federal investigation of its foreclosure practices, according to a HUD official. According to the official's sworn statement filed in Arizona court, BofA lawyers refused “on a number of occasions … to allow employees to answer questions.” So the government is asking a judge to let them interview former employees without BofA lawyers being present, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The HUD statement also alleges that Bank of America gave incomplete responses to two subpoenas for documents, and threw busywork at investigators by, for example, demanding they return or destroy documents. At one point, when HUD tried to conduct a walkthrough of BofA’s document execution group, a lawyer and an executive “asserted that they did not understand the need for a walk-through, and instead showed my staff a set of file cabinets.” A Bank of America spokesman insists the company has “fully cooperated” with investigators. (More Bank of America stories.)