Bank of America Earnings Hit By Mortgage-Related Legal Fees

Bank of America posted large losses in the first quarter of 2014 after doling out $6 billion in legal expenses related to the financial crisis.

The bank said early Wednesday that legal expenses were responsible for its $276 million quarterly loss in the first quarter after settling claims related to its mortgage missteps.

Bank of America paid $6 billion to settle a lawsuit with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the bank said, a litigation expense that arose from toxic mortgage-backed securities it packaged and sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the financial crisis.

“The cost of resolving more of our mortgage issues hurt our earnings this quarter,” said Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan in a statement.

Without legal expenses, however, the quarterly loss of 5 cents a share would have totaled roughly 35 cents a share, beating Wall Street expectations of adjusted earnings of 27 cents a share, the New York Times reported.

The company’s stock was down 2.8 percent as of 10:00 a.m. ET Wednesday.