Federal prosecutors in New York have filed a $1 billion civil suit accusing the financial giant Bank of America of a massive fraud. The Justice Department says Bank of America executed a scheme that would blindly hand out mortgages without proper checks and then turn around and sell the toxic loans to the government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While Bank of America reaped a windfall, Fannie and Freddie were stuck with huge losses and foreclosed properties. The scheme was known as the “hustle” and originated under the firm Countrywide Financial, which Bank of America took over in 2008. It was the sixth time in less than 18 months that U.S. prosecutors in New York have filed suit against a major U.S. financial firm for mortgage practices that helped cause the financial crisis. In a statement, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Bank of America’s “fraudulent conduct … was spectacularly brazen in scope.”