Judge Endorses Use Of Fraud Law Against Bank Of America

Tourists walk past a Bank of America banking center in Times Square in New York.- REUTERS/Brendan McDermid file

NEW YORK: A federal judge has endorsed a broad interpretation of a savings-and-loan era law that the Justice Department is trying to use in cases against Wall Street banks.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said Monday that a "straightforward application of the plain words" of the Financial Institutional Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) allowed the interpretation sought by the government.