West, in the interview, defended the settlements, pointing out that the government could not have obtained the consumer relief included in the settlements if it had gone to court and litigated the cases. He also said that no bank asked for a detailed explanation of the calculation of the penalties to be included in settlement documents. Further, West said the Justice Department's approach to penalties has been generally affirmed by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, an outspoken critic of light enforcement actions involving Wall Street. In July, as Bank of America was in negotiations with West's team, Rakoff separately ordered the bank to pay a $1.27 billion penalty for fraud over shoddy mortgages sold by the former Countrywide Financial Corp, which Bank of America bought during the crisis. It gave credence to the government's theories of penalties the banks were being forced to pay under the law at issue, FIRREA.