Bailout Lets a Few Lucky Banks Off the Hook

Maryland Financial Bank, one of six banks included in the government's auction this week of stakes it received as part of its crisis-era bailout program, enjoys an unusual luxury: It doesn't have to make good on the money it still owes taxpayers.

The Towson, Md., bank, which received $1.7 million in the Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2009, is a beneficiary of a quirk that placed stricter rules on some recipients of financial aid...