Former chiefs at Bank of America faced civil charges Thursday for allegedly misleading shareholders and government officials in 2008. BofA officials are being accused of providing a less than honest account of Merrill Lynch losses and misleading the government in an effort to obtain $20 billion in Tarp funds.
Ken Lewis, who held the position of Chief Executive at Bank of America during the time in question along with Joe Price, the former chief financial office are being named in charges present by NY attorney-general, Andrew Cuomo.
After more than one year of investigation, the attorney general felt that Price allegedly misled the bank’s general counsel in regard to the scale of Merrill Lynch’s losses at the close of 2008, to convince them of the officer’s pronouncement that BofA shareholders did not need to know the information before a vote on the transaction scheduled for December 5.
Furthermore, Bank of America proceeded to mislead about its facility to break off the deal as in order to attain roughly $20 billion in bailout money.
After shareholder approved the acquisition of Merill, Lewis informed Federal Regulators that the losses at Merill had become excessive and that the bank would employ the “material adverse change” clause to extricate itself from the transaction.
After much investigation, the Securites and Exchange Committee came to a $150m settlement with the bank Thursday for shareholder disclosure, but the attorney general is looking to place responsibility of the bank’s top ranking officers.
About EQUITIES:
Since 1951, EQUITIES Magazine has been a leading media company providing business editorial content designed to serve the needs of business leaders, professionals, institutional investors and retail investors. We are focused on business and the business of making money, not on lifestyle subjects. We publish original reporting in print and on our website, as well as select content at www.nasdaq.com. For 28 years we have hosted our own branded investor conferences that connect public company CEO’s with our loyal readers in the investment community.
