Bank of America (BAC) continues to work through its negation talks with the Department of Justice, accelerating their talks to resolve the investigation into the bank’s sale of troubled mortgage securities before the financial crisis. However, the two still stand very far apart on crucial issues. Per The New York Times:

The bank’s lawyers and Justice Department prosecutors met in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the size of a potential cash penalty, a major sticking point in the settlement talks, according to people briefed on the meeting. Heading into the meeting, the Justice Department was demanding roughly $17 billion to settle the case, more than $10 billion in the form of a cash penalty and the rest in so-called soft dollar payments to help struggling homeowners.

This settlement follows the bank’s settlement Wednesday to pay $1.3 billion I penalties for junk mortgages sold to the government sponsored enterprises in the years prior to the financial crisis.