....it's a civil court case...


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp heads to trial this week over
allegations its Countrywide unit approved deficient home loans in a
process called "Hustle," defrauding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S.
government enterprises that underwrite mortgages.

In what would be the government's first financial crisis case to go to
trial against a major bank over defective mortgages, jury selection is
set to begin in federal court in New York on Tuesday, barring a
last-minute settlement.

The trial is also a reminder of the billions of dollars in legal
liabilities Bank of America has incurred as a result of its 2008
acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp, which became a poster child
of the mortgage meltdown.

The U.S. Justice Department filed the civil lawsuit in 2012, blaming the
bank for more than $1 billion in losses to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,
which bought mortgages that later defaulted. Since then, new evidence
and pre-trial rulings by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff have pared the
case back.

The case is U.S. ex rel. O'Donnell v. Bank of America Corp et al, U.S.
District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-01422.