Ex-Bank Of America Exec Indicted Over Muni Bid-Rigging Scheme

A former Bank of America executive has been indicted on charges of tampering with the bidding process for municipal bond investments.

Hard times at BofA right now. But then, it's kind of always hard times for BofA, isn't it? The latest dust-up for Brian Moynihan's problem child involves Phillip Murphy, a former executive at Bank of America who has just been indicted for fraud.

Murphy used to be the head of BofA's municipal derivatives desk, and, from 1998 to 2006, was allegedly involved in a scheme to rig bids for investment contracts with city governments.

The way that process is supposed to work is that cities sell off municipal bonds, then invest the money with a bank to try and make it grow, as the Charlotte Business Journal explains. Banks then compete amongst themselves to get those bond funds. What Murphy allegedly did wrong, according to the indictment filed last week, was to conspire with brokers at other banks so that they'd lose the bidding on purpose.

Murphy's indictment comes as part of larger, years-long Justice Department investigation, in which 13 other people have already pled guilty -- including employees from JPMorgan Chase and UBS, according to Bloomberg.

The probe has also resulted in convictions for a number of onetime General Electric employees and a $148 million payout from Wells Fargo to settle similar charges.

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