Bank Of America Accused Of Fraud In Merrill Lynch Merger
(New York, NY) -- Bank of America and its two former top executives are being sued by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo who claims the merger with Merrill Lynch was filled with fraud. He accuses former CEO Kenneth Lewis and former CFO Joseph Price of trying to play by their own set of rules while pushing for the merger with Merrill Lynch. Cuomo says the executives hid 16-billion dollars in Merrill Lynch losses so that shareholders would approve the deal. The Bank is then accused of overstating the losses when demanding a second federal bailout worth 20-billion dollars and threatening to bail on the deal if the government did not pay. Cuomo says the Bank of America executives allegedly tried to to use the teetering economy and the nation's fear at that time for their own benefit. The Attorney General calls the behavior egregious and reprehensible. He says it is representative of the larger Wall Street meltdown in which he says "bankers had a ten year party, the government cleans up the mess and taxpayers are sent the bill." The suit filed against the company and the two executives contains only a civil complaint and no criminal charges.< |