Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters." Subsequent attempts to connect Obama's campaign with Franklin Raines were characterized by The Washington Post as "a stretch". Lawsuits The office of Attorney General of Illinois, Lisa Madigan, filed a civil lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against Countrywide Financial Corporation on June 25, 2008. The lawsuit cites information gathered from documents obtained via a subpoena in the fall of 2007. Madigan's office claims the "mortgage lender engaged in "unfair and deceptive" practices to get homeowners to apply for risky mortgages far beyond their means." California Attorney General, Jerry Brown, followed suit by filing a similar lawsuit on June 25, 2008, accusing the lender of breaking the state's laws against false advertising and unfair business practices. The lawsuit also claims the defendant mislead many consumers by misinforming them about the workings of certain mortgages such adjustable-rate mortgages, interest-only loans, low-documentation loans and home-equity loans while telling borrowers they would be able to refinance before the interest rate on their loans adjusted. In August 2008, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also brought suit against Countrywide, alleging that deceptive lending practices had ripped off Connecticut homeowners. The suit was settled in October 2008 after Bank of America acquired Countrywide. The settlement involves the modifying of troubled 'predatory loans' up to $8.4 billion. The states currently involved in the settlement are Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Washington. Other states may also join the settlement. There is also a shareholder class action lawsuit for investors in asset-backed securities from Countrywide. Subprime mortgage crisis Secondary market disruption When Countrywide finances mortgage loans, they usually packaged them for sale to large investors as mortgage-backed securities. Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac can only buy loans which conform to the standards of government-sponsored enterprises. Non-conforming mortgages securities must be sold in the private, secondary market to alternative investors. On August 3, 2007, this secondary market essentially stopped trading most of the non-conforming securities. Secondary mortgage market disruptions had happened previously, but, the new disruption appeared more serious, both larger in range and likely duration. Alt-A mortgages (loans given to apparently creditworthy borrowers without much or any documentation) completely stopped at ratings lower than AAA. Difficulties extended to much of AAA-rated mortgage-backed securities. Only securities with conforming mortgages were trading. Countrywide Financial issued a statement that its mortgage business has access