Posted on 02/04/2010 1:31:17 PM PST by lbryce
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday it was bringing civil charges against senior Bank of America executives, including former company CEO Ken Lewis, for their role in the company's controversial purchase of Merrill Lynch.
Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it had struck a $150 million settlement agreement with BofA over its decision to pay billions of dollars in bonuses to former Merrill employees.
The lawsuit contends that the bank's management team understated the losses at Merrill in order to get shareholders to approve the deal, then subsequently overstated the firm's willingness to terminate the merger to regulators weeks later in order to get $20 billion of additional aid from the federal government.
"Bank of America and its officials defrauded the government and the taxpayers at a very difficult and sensitive time," Cuomo said at a press conference Thursday, joined by federal bailout cop Neil Barofsky, whose office aided in the investigation. "I believe that Bank of America officials exploited this fear."
Bank of America's last-minute decision to purchase the ailing Merrill in September 2008 has remained a central issue in the wake of the financial crisis, prompting both federal and state probes into the matter.
Cuomo's office, which has been aggressively pursuing an investigation into the merger and subsequent bonuses paid to former Merrill employees, said it was charging Lewis and Bank of America's former chief financial officer Joe Price with fraud.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
This all stinks to high heaven, there’s an empty prison in illinois lets fill it up with the criminals in DC
>>with a politican running the show trials.
They’re ALL politicians; and the only reason SOME of them get away with this crap is because the people who elect them DON’T HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE.
IF the citizens of this country are more interested in consuming Bread and “Super Bowl” Circuses from the South end of the political system’s digestive tract; more interested in that than in participating in the process of their own governance - THEN THEY GET THE GOVERNMENT THEY DESERVE.
But that doesn’t mean some of us won’t continue stupidly banging our heads against the wall; because once in a while a brick falls out and the light shines though - and THAT makes it all worth the effort.
Discovery in this case should be very, very interesting. Word is that Ken Lewis is going to be calling Bernanke, Paulson, Geithner, and other insiders as witnesses.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo I believe is going to make a run for governor in the Democratic primary against our current non-elected, impotent governor-figurehead so all these indictments, prosecutions will look good on his electoral resume.WTH?
:’) Well put.
Isn’t this the deal where the FED held a gun to BOA and “made” them go through w/the merger?
This a page out of Elliot Spitzer’s play book.
Good idea!
Does this make Cuomo customer number 6?
The story as told by Frontline was completely opposite. The Merrill guy along with his gubermint buds were the bad guys here and Lewis is getting the shaft for trying to do the right thing. And I’m finding that credible. Something really rotten is going on.
>>Fat chance of that happening.
More movement from Cuomo than we see from the RINO camp.
Where’s LEO?
O BOy!....Don’t see any one in the government being held accountable for their actions.
One party rule.
Who ya gunna call? Ghost busters?
Barney Frank should go to prison, except he would probably like it.
“What about LEO?”
you mean Holder, the guy who called off the FBI investigating the NOI voting place thugs?
No, I’m sorry to say that we are de facto no longer a republic governed by the Rule of Law. We have evolved into a kleptocracy like much of the rest of the world politics have replaced reason, tradition, natural law and decency. Democratic attorneys general are the locus of much of the war on private property and free enterprise, as companies are forced to avoid shakedowns by contributing to political campaigns and democrat pet causes and programs like the Community Reinvestment Act. These individuals less enforce the law than manipulate it for political and personal gain.
It’s not a question of defending Lewis, whose record is mixed at best, but rather of recognizing the real motivation of his attackers.
What you believe all of this has to do with RINOs escapes me.
Your page cites a quote attributed to Edmund Burke. I suggest that you read him more closely.
They did.
You’re right. A lot of senior banking execs are compromised.
Bankers are easy targets for faux populists like Cuomo who’s all mobbed-up himself. Nothing will come of it but a lot of free publicity for Candidate Cuomo. Sorry to disappoint.
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