Casey Anthony: Family Home in Foreclosure

According to WKMG Local 6, Bank of America has moved to foreclose on the home where Caylee Anthony once lived with her mother and grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

New documents filed Monday in Orange Circuit Court show that Bank of America is foreclosing on Casey Anthony’s childhood home.

The owners of the house are George and Cindy Anthony, the grandparents of slain toddler Caylee Marie Anthony.

The home at 4937 Hopespring Drive in Chickasaw Oaks subdivision was the last place where Caylee Marie Anthony was seen alive. Her body was found a few hundred yards away in woods.

Casey Anthony: Has Stolen Money Been Paid Back?

A document filed last week appears to show that Casey Anthony has paid back money she allegedly stole from her friend Amy Huizenga.

From WESH:

Anthony’s legal team has been trying to get the check fraud case delayed in the face of her upcoming capitol murder case. Anthony is in the Orange County jail awaiting trial on charges that she killed her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

Security camera images showed Anthony writing checks to buy beer, bras and other clothing before she told her family her daughter Caylee was missing. Later, detectives accused her of draining her friend Amy Huizenga’s checking account to pay for the spending spree.

In a court document filed by Jose Baez last week, Bank of America acknowledged a $664 check received from Baez’s office in reference to the Amy Huzeinga case. Baez denies he’s the one who cut the check, but he would neither confirm nor deny that the check came from Anthony.

Bank of America To Cut Up To 35,000 Jobs

Bank of America has announced that it expects to cut 30,000 to 35,000 jobs over the next three years.

From the Associated Press:

The final number could be even higher, analysts say. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America said it hasn’t yet completed its analysis for eliminating positions, and won’t until early next year. The company and Merrill have about 308,000 employees in total, and the cuts will affect workers from both companies and all types of businesses.

Bank of America is considered one of the country’s healthier banks, and its decision to slash so many jobs illustrates the breadth of the layoffs hitting the United States. The nation lost more than half a million jobs in November alone, and economists expect many more to come.

Bank of America’s action is a particularly hard blow for Charlotte — which is also home to the beleaguered Wachovia Corp., a once strong bank that is now being acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. in what amounts to a fire sale. Just three months ago, when the Merrill Lynch deal was announced, Charlotte was dubbed Wall Street South; now, the banking center is being hit as hard as Wall Street and other towns across America, where people go to work in the morning unsure if they will still have a job that night.

Thursday’s announcement of job cuts at Bank of America was hardly unexpected, considering the merger and the wave of job losses seen in the banking industry and in other sectors over the past few months. Bank of America and Merrill Lynch have already eliminated thousands of investment banking jobs over the past year, as have other banks, in an effort to lower costs as they face increasing defaults in mortgages, credit card debt and other loans.

Citigroup Acquires Wachovia

Citigroup has agreed to acquire Wachovia‘s banking operations for approximately $2.1 billion in stock and will assume another $53 billion in Wachovia’s debt. The transaction is expected to close before year-end. It has been approved by the directors of both companies and is subject to Wachovia shareholder and regulatory approval.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Citi’s purchase of the fabled Charlotte bank marks another deal orchestrated by the federal government, this time by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and one in which the agency could be on the hook for loan losses.

“The FDIC has agreed to provide loss protection in connection with approximately $312 billion of mortgage-related and other Wachovia assets,” Citigroup said in a statement.

The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department were also part of the effort, another sign of how proactive the government has been in preventing ailing financial firms from failing and instead pushing for stronger firms to acquire some assets of the weaker companies.

Wachovia shares fell more than 90% in premarket trading, and the New York Stock Exchange did not open the shares for trading. Citigroup was off 1% at $19.95 shortly after the market opened.

The FDIC said the deal was reached in concurrence with it, the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Treasury Department. “There will be no interruption in services, and bank customers should expect business as usual,” FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair said.

In a separate statement, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said he welcomes the Wachovia bailout deal and supports the timely actions taken by the FDIC. He added that the FDIC action shows the government is committed to U.S. financial stability.

The FDIC sought to calm any concerns the Citigroup and Wachovia deal might have on financial markets.

From the Washington Post:

The purchase of Wachovia boosts Citigroup as a rival for Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase in the new coterie of financial behemoths that is emerging from the current financial crisis. Those three banks will now control almost a third of the nation’s deposits.

Citigroup, based in New York, also will become the largest bank in the Washington area. The company said it would raise $10 million in new capital to help it absorb Wachovia’s troubled loan portfolio. Citigroup also plans to cut the dividend on its shares, among the most widely held stocks in America.

Bank of America to Buy Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch has agreed to sell itself to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion, thus possibly averting a deepening financial crisis. Another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer.

From the New York Times:

The humbling moves, which reshape the landscape of American finance, mark the latest chapter in a tumultuous year in which once-proud financial institutions have been brought to their knees as a result of hundreds of billions of dollars in losses because of bad mortgage finance and real estate investments.

But even as the fates of Lehman and Merrill hung in the balance Sunday night, another crisis loomed as the insurance giant American International Group appeared to teeter. A.I.G. sought a $40 billion lifeline from the Federal Reserve, without which the company may have only days to survive.

The stunning series of events culminated a weekend of frantic around-the-clock negotiations, as Wall Street bankers huddled in meetings at the behest of Bush administration officials to try to avoid a downward spiral in the markets stemming from a crisis of confidence.

“My goodness. I’ve been in the business 35 years, and these are the most extraordinary events I’ve ever seen,” said Peter G. Peterson, co-founder of the private equity firm the Blackstone Group, who was head of Lehman in the 1970s and a secretary of commerce in the Nixon administration.

It remains to be seen whether the sale of Merrill, which was worth more than $100 billion during the last year, and the controlled demise of Lehman will be enough to finally turn the tide in the yearlong financial crisis that has crippled Wall Street and threatened the broader economy.