Shareholder Spotlight : Bank of America - A Horror Tale of American Finance

I’ve seen my share of scams, cheats, and outright bastards who think they’re above it all. But nothing – and I mean nothing – prepares you for the sheer, unadulterated bullshit that is Bank of America. This behemoth, this bloated parasite sucking on the teat of the American dream, haI’ve met my share of crooks, hustlers, and absolute wankers who think they’re above it all. But nothing – and I mean nothing – churns your stomach like the raw, festering bullshit of Bank of America. This bloated leech, sucking the life out of the American dream, has been screwing over everyone from minimum-wage grafters to pensioners who trusted their savings were safe. It’s greed so rank it’s like biting into a spoiled oyster left to rot in the sun. And the worst part? They keep getting away with it, slapping on a shiny PR gloss while the stench of corruption seeps through.

Picture this: a bank that might’ve had a scrap of honour once but turned into a monster. Bank of America, or BofA to the pinstriped pricks, has piled up scandals like a drunk stacks bar tabs. Billions in fines, lawsuits that could choke a bloody library, and a trail of broken lives. If Wall Street’s a sewer, BofA’s the king rat, fat and smug, gnawing on whatever it can grab. And now, with their stake in Cummins – that engine giant caught rigging emissions tests – you’ve got to wonder: is this just another link in the Cummins ecosystem’s chain of dodgy ethics? Bloody hell, when does the rot stop?

The Mortgage Mess: Foreclosing on the American Dream

Let’s start with the big one, the 2008 financial crisis, where BofA played a starring role in the shitshow. They gobbled up Countrywide Financial, that predatory lender that herded minorities into subprime loans they couldn’t afford, like lambs to the slaughter. Hispanics and African-Americans got hit hardest, shoved into high-interest traps while white folks landed prime deals. Discrimination? You bet your arse it was. The Department of Justice slapped them with a $335 million settlement, but that’s chump change for these bastards.

Then there’s the “Hustle” program – what a fucking name. Countrywide, under BofA’s watch, flogged toxic mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, knowing they were poison. Billions in losses, and BofA coughed up $16.65 billion in 2014, the biggest settlement ever at the time. Did anyone go to jail? Fuck no. They wrote it off as the cost of doing business while families lost their homes. I can hear the boardroom laughs, clinking glasses over the wreckage. And the foreclosure abuses? Robo-signing documents, kicking people out without proper paperwork. The 2012 National Mortgage Settlement? $26 billion industry-wide, with BofA’s share in the billions for “relief.” Relief, my arse. It’s like tossing a plaster on a severed limb.

Even in 2025, they’re at it. Inaccurate mortgage reporting to regulators, another $12 million fine from the CFPB. It’s a relentless cycle of cock-ups and wrist-slaps.

Toxic Securities: Poisoning Investors for Fun and Profit

Now, the investor side, where BofA treated shareholders like marks in a dodgy card game. The 2008 Merrill Lynch acquisition? Supposed to be a masterstroke, but it was a proper clusterfuck. Secret $3.6 billion bonuses paid out while Merrill bled cash, and BofA hid the losses during the merger. Shareholders sued, and BofA settled for $2.43 billion in 2012. Oh, and the government bailed them out because these geniuses couldn’t manage a piss-up in a brewery.

Auction-rate securities fraud? Billions in settlements there too. Misleading investors on risky assets, peddling them as safe as houses. The FHFA suits for toxic securities dumped on Fannie and Freddie? Over $20 billion in payouts. And the Parmalat scandal in the early 2000s? BofA accused of profiting from known fraud, settling for ~$100 million. It’s a pattern: lie, cheat, settle, repeat. By 2016, Merrill got fined $415 million for misleading on order routing. These pricks don’t learn; they just lawyer up.

Consumer Rip-Offs: Fake Accounts and Junk Fees

Then there’s the everyday bollocks that hits you and me. Fake accounts opened without consent, a Wells Fargo rerun with BofA’s own slime. In 2023, they got nailed for $250 million – $100 million to customers, $150 million in fines. Double-charging overdraft fees, withholding credit card rewards. It’s petty theft on a grand scale, preying on the vulnerable. And those credit card add-ons? Deceptive marketing, $727 million in relief in 2014.

Overdrafts, billing abuses – class actions galore, hundreds of millions paid out. Illegal garnishments in 2022, $10 million fine. Fast forward to 2025, faulty fraud detection freezing accounts for over 100,000 people. Refusing to reimburse a customer after hackers nicked $70k? That’s just cold. They’re like that dodgy street vendor who shorts your change and dares you to complain.

Employment scandals too – replacing US workers with cheaper H-1B hires from India. And the intern who died in 2013 from overwork? 104-hour weeks, for Christ’s sake. BofA’s culture is toxic as a bad batch of moonshine.

Regulatory Dodges and Money Laundering Shenanigans

Compliance? What’s that? Money laundering through insiders in 2021, currency manipulation in South Africa’s “ZAR Domination” scandal in 2015. Banking violations stacking up – $370 million in 2012, $2.89 billion in 2013, $250 million in 2014. By 2025, $540 million to the FDIC for undisclosed issues, and allowing fraudulent judgments to freeze accounts. And don’t forget the political games – handing data to the FBI post-January 6 without warrants in 2021. Debanking conservatives in 2024-2025, calling it “business decisions.” Trump called them biased, and he’s not wrong. It’s power plays, pure and simple.

Historical sins? Predecessors financed slavery. They apologised, but words are cheap as chips.

The Cummins Connection: Betting on a Polluter

Here’s where it gets murkier. Bank of America holds ~979,000 shares in Cummins Inc., about 0.71% of the company, per Q2 2025 filings. Not a massive stake, but enough to tie them to a firm caught red-handed cheating emissions tests with defeat devices in Ram trucks, spewing nitrogen oxides like there’s no tomorrow. Cummins paid a record $1.675 billion fine, with California alone nabbing $372 million. Yet BofA’s securities arm slaps a “neutral” rating on Cummins, raising the price target to $358 in January 2025. They’re not just investors; they’re cheerleaders for a company screwing the planet.

Is this another link in the Cummins ecosystem’s chain of “alternative ideas on ethical behaviour”? Damn right. BofA’s got a history of backing dirty deals – mortgages, securities, now a polluter like Cummins. It’s not about supplying parts; it’s about bankrolling and boosting a company that prioritises profit over clean air. Same old BofA playbook: ethics are optional when the money’s good.

The Bloody Tally: Over $75 Billion in Fines and Counting

Add it up: over $75 billion in penalties since 2000, per Violation Tracker data. Mortgages, deception, discrimination – their rap sheet’s longer than a CVS receipt. Yet the stock keeps climbing, execs cash fat cheques, and the cycle spins on.

I’ve eaten in places where the food fights back, but BofA? They’re the chef serving poison with a smile, knowing it’s tainted. Time to spit it out, America. Demand better, or these bastards will keep dishing up the same shit.

Sources

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

Shareholder Spotlight : Bank of America – A Horror Tale of American Finance