Bank of America: April 2009

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Bank of America: April 2009

Cuomo: Paulson Kept SEC Out Of The Loop On B Of A

Zachary Roth | April 23, 2009, 12:19PM

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has just released documents from his investigation into Bank of America, its receipt of government money, and those billions in bonuses that went to Merrill Lynch executives.

Here's one quick nugget we found: It looks like then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson didn't keep the SEC -- whose role, of course, is to protect investors -- informed on the government's intense December 2008 discussions with B of A about Merrill's losses, and possible government assistance for B of A.

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Topics: Andrew Cuomo, Bailout, Bank of America, Financial Crisis, Merrill Lynch, Securities and Exchange Commission, Treasury Department, Wall Street

Bailout

SEC Reviewing Whether B of A Broke Law On Merrill Bonuses

Zachary Roth | April 14, 2009, 11:37AM

Ever since AIG's bonus shenanigans exploded onto the national scene last month, Merrill Lynch's own outrageous payouts have kind of gotten short shrift. We've felt this was unfair to the Thundering Herd, since at an around $3.6 billion, its bonuses dwarfed those of AIG. Granted, its role in bringing down the financial system may not have been quite as central as that of AIG's financial products unit, but it's not like Merrill, which needed rescuing last fall by Bank of America, was squeaky clean. Where's the respect?

But luckily, the Merrill bonuses are back. The SEC is looking at whether Bank of America broke the law by not disclosing, in filings last year, the fact that it was planning to pay those bonuses, reports the Washington Post.