Looks like Ken Lewis isn’t so eager to reveal what he knows about those controversial Merrill bonuses.
ABC News reports that that the Bank of America CEO — subpoenaed recently by investigators for New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo — refused to provide the AG’s office with a list of which company execs got bonuses, and how much they were worth. (For good measure, ABC adds that Lewis traveled to New York for his testimony in a $50 million corporate jet. You can see video of Lewis’ arrival here.)
In response, Cuomo’s office issued a subpoena to B of A to turn over that information.
The session with Lewis was “ugly and combative,” in ABC’s paraphrase of New York officials.
Merrill CEO John Thain earlier refused to divulge similar details about the bonuses during his own sitdown with Cuomo’s investigators — claiming B of A had told him not to. But after the AG’s office obtained a court order, he was more forthcoming.
We’ll see whether the same thing happens with B of A. But for now, it looks like the Bush White House’s approach to subpoenas — that they’re optional — is becoming more widespread.