The financial giant Bank of America has finalized a $9.3 billion settlement for selling toxic mortgage bonds to the government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the financial crisis. 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 Fannie and Freddie. While Bank of America reaped a windfall, Fannie and Freddie were stuck with huge losses and foreclosed properties. Bank of America has also reached a settlement for misleading investors in its takeover of the troubled firm Merrill Lynch. Under the agreement, former Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis is banned from serving as an officer or director of a public company for three years.