Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has taken the lead role representing Bank of America (BoA) in its $16.6bn (£10bn) settlement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over claims the bank misled investors over mortgage-backed securities sold in the run-up to the financial crash.

The agreement, announced yesterday (21 August), resolves charges by the DoJ, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), six states, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Chicago-based Skadden litigation and regulatory partner Charles "Chuck" Smith is named in SEC documents as the lead adviser to BoA on the historic agreement, described by the DoJ as "the largest ever civil settlement with a single entity in American history".

Smith has previously represented companies including JPMorgan Chase, Sprint Corporation and Aon Corporation in securities and derivatives litigation.

In March, a Skadden team secured a recommendation of dismissal from a North Carolina judge over DoJ allegations that BoA made false statements to the government in connection with the sale of mortgage securitisations.

At the time, the firm suggested the judge's decision could mean BoA would be the first defendant "to win the dismissal of a Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act action (FIRREA) arising from the financial crisis".

However, this final settlement sees BoA agree to pay a $5bn (£3bn) penalty under FIRREA, as well as $4.63bn (£2.8bn) in compensatory remediation payments and $7bn (£4.2bn) in consumer relief.

The agreement does not release individuals at the bank – or BoA itself – from civil charges or potential criminal prosecution.

"Bank of America failed to make accurate and complete disclosure to investors and its illegal conduct kept investors in the dark," said Rhea Kemble Dignam, regional director of the SEC's Atlanta Office.

"Requiring an admission of wrongdoing as part of Bank of America's agreement to resolve the SEC charges filed today provides an additional level of accountability for its violation of the federal securities laws."

One of the DoJ lawyers leading in the investigation was Leticia Vandehaar, a New Jersey assistant US attorney who began her legal career as an associate at Skadden before later transitioning into enforcement.

Another lead investigator, deputy chief of civil fraud in the Southern District of New York deputy civil fraud chief Pierre Armand, worked at Weil Gotshal & Manges before entering government.

Morgan Lewis & Bockius litigation partner Amy Greer, who until the start of this month was co-head of Reed Smith's securities litigation and enforcement practice, also advised BoA on the settlement.

The New York-based partner, who has also previously advised Bank of America in claims brought by insurance giant AIG, began her career as regional trial counsel in the Securities Exchange Commission's Philadelphia office.

Other firms named in documents as having taken a role for BoA entities on the settlement with the FDIC include Goodwin Procter and Munger Tolles & Olson.