As we told you earlier today, Bloomberg reported last night:
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may demand the return of $4 billion in bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch & Co. just before it was acquired by Bank of America Corp.
But it turns out that may overstate the case a bit. A person familiar with the matter told TPMmuckraker that the investigation is considering several other possible remedies, including imposing fines and alleging violations of securities law — as the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
The probe of Merill is still at an early stage. Depositions haven’t yet been taken from former Merrill CEO John Thain, and Bank of America chief administrative officer J. Steele Alphin, both of whom have been subpoenaed to give investigators details on just when Bank of America learned about the bonuses, and about Merrill’s massive fourth quarter losses.
If Cuomo doesn’t try to get the money back, Congress might. Chris Dodd, who chairs the Senate Banking committee, declared at a press conference yesterday:
I’m going to be urging — in fact not urging, demanding — that the Treasury Department figures out some way to get the money back.