Treasury recovers $57M in bank bailout funds

The Treasury Department on Wednesday announced the sale of more than $57 million in bank stocks purchased during the 2008 bank bailout.

The Treasury will sell more than 1 million shares of Puerto Rico-based First BanCorp at $5.61 per share. The sale returns $57.7 million to the federal government, which had previously recovered $174.2 million from its bailout to First BanCorp through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

The government has now taken back a total of $275.8 billion on TARP bank investments, according to the Treasury.

{mosads}The agency said there is $66.2 million in outstanding investments in eight banks covered through TARP’s Capital Purchase Program.

President George W. Bush signed TARP in October 2008, giving the government power to buy toxic assets from banks during the financial crisis, largely obtained through the packaging of subprime mortgage debt with safer securities.

TARP initially authorized up to $700 billion in purchases, but that number was reduced to $400 billion through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.