by Eric Dash and Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times
Washington Mutual, the giant lender that came to symbolize the excesses of the mortgage boom, was seized by federal
regulators on Thursday night, in what is by far the largest bank failure in American history.
Regulators simultaneously brokered an emergency sale of virtually all of Washington Mutual, the nation's largest
savings and loan, to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9 billion, averting another potentially huge taxpayer bill for the rescue of
a failing institution.
The move came as lawmakers reached a stalemate over the passage of a $700 billion bailout fund designed to help ailing
banks, and removed one of America's most troubled banks from the financial landscape.
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