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Home › Money

Money | 02/27/2009 9:05 am

NY Attorney General Cuomo: Bank of America Must Come Clean About Merrill Lynch Bonuses

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
Ken Lewis © Getty Images

The $3.6 billion in bonuses Merrill Lynch executives received just before their Bank of America merger keep coming back to haunt them. Sickened by the firm’s actions, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s engaging in a legal showdown with Bank of America President Ken Lewis.

Cuomo has been investigating the bonuses, paid out after the government doled out $125 billion in taxpayer money to nine banks, which he claims lined the pockets of some Merrill execs as the bank lost billions. Cuomo subpoenaed Lewis for a list of bonus-receiving executives and has summoned the CEO to his office twice to explain himself.

"I answered all the questions to the best of my knowledge and hopefully brought some clarity," Lewis told reporters after one four-hour meeting this week, which ABC News says was pretty nasty. Cuomo’s people aren’t buying that, however, and insist the bank’s been stonewalling.

"Bank of America has made the decision they don’t want to turn that information over to us and we, therefore, tonight served Bank of America with a subpoena to turn over that information," special assistant to the New York Attorney General Benjamin Lawsky said Thursday night, "and we intend to get that by whatever means is necessary going forward."

Meanwhile, there’s more news today about that very touchy subject of executive compensation. Wells Fargo, which received $25 billion in government aid, will suspend cash bonuses for its five highest-paid executives. What a nice gesture.

Read more about: Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General, Bailout, Bank of America, Bonuses, Economy, Executive Compensation, investigation, Merrill Lynch, New York, News, Recession, U.S., Wall Street

19 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

f p
Every single big bank needs needs to shed it toxic waste, and that in itself is probably in the trillions, and get a grip. Or be nationalized.
By f p on 02/27/2009 9:20 am
Grande Camper
That is the truth.  But I worry that they won’t get  a grip on this.  Instead they will repeat and ask for more money.
By Grande Camper on 02/27/2009 10:37 am
C Hardy

I hope they get this info from Ken Lewis…Ken said he would give them the names if the name werent made public, why not make those names public?  Aren’t we allowed to know where our money is going & who is getting it? 

Ken Lewis needs to man up and be honest.  Take his blows and move on.

By C Hardy on 02/27/2009 9:23 am
f p
As Lewis refused to answer the question, hold him in contempt and throw his ass in the gray bar hotel until he does answer.  Millions of us have had it with these cretins.  They need to fee up or face the slam.
By f p on 02/27/2009 9:54 am
C Hardy
Beau…the bad part is I work for BofA and we arent getting raises this year YET now we are learning all of this.  Makes working really hard to do!
By C Hardy on 02/27/2009 9:55 am
rocky rocky
I’d be fuming, C Hardy. Stuff like this drives me crazy. These guys will get theirs sooner or later … hope it’s sooner! 
By rocky rocky on 02/28/2009 10:59 am
Ms. Dee
And how many Bank of America and Merrill Lynch lay-offs might have been unnecessary if these oh-so-talented financiers had NOT been given these bonuses?  We gripe about Suleman’s 14 babies being thrown on the backs of tax-payers.  How many people did $36 billion dollars throw onto the unemployment rolls?
By Ms. Dee on 02/27/2009 10:39 am
rocky rocky
Good for you, Ms Dee. Perfect analogy. And I agree. Those men (grrrrrr) … their time is over (or it better be). The great majority of citizens cannot continue to suffer blow after blow while the Few continue to stash their stolen wealth. 
By rocky rocky on 02/28/2009 11:06 am
Ms. Dee
Well, I understand they live in a different world, and their perspective is so "elevated" it’s become unrealistic in ways that even their support staff can’t fathom.  What I don’t understand, is why Dr. Phil isn’t scrambling to get one of them on his show, to point out just how the consequences of their behavior might be considered irresponsible.  What kind of void were they trying to fill?
By Ms. Dee on 03/02/2009 8:29 pm
rocky rocky
ha! I’ve heard rumors that the doc is a rather conservative guy and probably believes that if ya can grab it it’s yours, no question. But you do make a point … the filthy rich seem to believe that lucre is life.
By rocky rocky on 03/03/2009 8:26 am
Sherrie Crews

Great post Ms. Dee.

For some reason though the repugs think coporate greed, fraud, welfare and are what we need more of in the form of tax cuts for them.

When it’s the former working/middle class they call it pork or handouts.

By Sherrie Crews on 02/27/2009 11:47 am
Ms. Dee
Hi Sherrie, I wish it were that simple.  I wish it were, since the Democrats are currently in the majority, but I don’t think this kind of corruptions is endemic to one party or the other.  And I would imagine there are people in both parties who want to see them held accountable.  My guess is the ones screaming "pork" the loudest are the same little piggies with up to their neck in sludge and mire. 
By Ms. Dee on 03/02/2009 8:39 pm
rocky rocky

Hi again, Ms. Dee — You might look at the following article, which suggests the Republicans (and the Dems) are up to their ears in porcine-ophilia in the proposed new U.S. budget. See:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/02/red-states-gobble-up-omni_n_171186.html 

By rocky rocky on 03/03/2009 8:31 am
g c

When anything is said about these guys and the amount of these bonus the Grand Old Posse as Colbert recently called them goes back to the same tired and lame excuse about how this just incites class warfare.

 You are so right Sherrie when you point out when the policies start tilting towards the rest of us in the bottom 95% it is handouts.

By g c on 02/27/2009 4:23 pm
Suzanne Frazier
My question is why didn’t "self regulation" work?  It was supposed to according to what we have been told the last few years.  Where is the conscience on Wall Street and down the street to the banks?  What happened.  Where are as a culture and a country?  Have we been watching too much TV and incorporating the values of all the "bad guys/gals" in the fictional stories?  Is "taking the other guy/gal" normal business practice now?  
By Suzanne Frazier on 02/28/2009 9:55 am
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