G. Kennedy Thompson of court a case in which it allegedly laundered over $378 billion in cash and traveler's checks from Mexican drug cartels in the years 2004 - 2006, during Thompson's tenure as CEO. Terms of the settlement included a $110 million forfeiture and a $50 million fine. Thompson was pushed out of Wachovia Bank (WB) on June 2, 2008, as head of the nation’s fourth-largest bank, becoming the latest financial services executive to be ousted amid turmoil in the U.S. housing market. Thompson will not receive any incentive pay for the 2008 fiscal year, but according to a filing with the
Credit rating agencies and the subprime crisis losses. But as of September 2008, bank writedowns and losses on these investments totaled $523 billion. Rating agencies lowered the credit ratings on $1.9 trillion in mortgage backed securities from the third fiscal quarter (1 July—30 September) of 2007 to the second quarter (1 April–30 June) of 2008. One institution, Merrill Lynch, sold more than $30 billion of collateralized debt obligations for 22 cents on the dollar in late July 2008. The net worth of financial institutions owning the newly downgraded securities declined, requiring the institutions to acquire additional capital, to maintain capital ratios, which in turn often lowered the