WASHINGTON (AP) - A sale of First Financial Bancorp warrants has

brought the government $2.97 million, the latest move to recoup

costs for taxpayers from the $700 billion financial bailout.

The Treasury Department says it sold 465,117 warrants at a price

of $6.70 per warrant. Treasury had set a minimum bid price of $4.

Warrants give the purchaser the right to buy common stock at a

fixed price.

The auction of the warrants, which was conducted Wednesday,

represent an additional return for the government on the $80

million in support it provided the Cincinnati bank at the height of

the financial crisis in December 2008.