The financial giant Bank of America has announced a $2.43 billion settlement in connection with its misleading of investors while acquiring Merrill Lynch. Bank of America executives allegedly concealed heavy losses at Merrill when it purchased the company for $50 billion in 2008. While shareholders relied on optimistic projections from the bank that the deal would earn money, the losses actually resulted in a $20 billion taxpayer bailout. The settlement is the largest in a securities class action case to result from the U.S. financial crisis. It stands likely to undermine a case brought by the New York attorney general’s office against Bank of America as prosecutors can’t recover losses for shareholders once they settle.