Merrill may have misled Congress on bonuses: Cuomo

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co may have misled Congress in representing last November that it planned to pay out bonuses at year end, when in fact it decided to accelerate those payouts, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday.

The attorney general also said Merrill traders may have delayed taking hefty losses late last year until after the company decided to pay out $3.62 billion of overall bonuses.

He also again rejected the attempt by Bank of America Corp, which bought Merrill on January 1, to keep the names of bonus recipients confidential, after the bank's Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis said he had never in 40 years of banking demanded confidentiality.

<snip>

Merrill ultimately lost $15.84 billion in the quarter.

Bank of America on January 16 got a federal bailout that included $20 billion of capital from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and a government agreement to share losses on $118 billion of assets, mostly from Merrill. The bank has taken $45 billion overall from TARP.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52A6T220090312?sp=true

[Muttocracy]

1. k&r

[Robbien]

2. Is Cuomo investigating in order to prosecute?

Lying to Congress is a Federal offense is it not?

[Wizard777]

4. Only if your a sports figure. Everyone else can lie through their teeth with no problems.

In fact they would probably go to jail for trying to tell Congress the truth. Telling Congress the truth would probably shut down the entire federal government.

[acmavm]

3. Oh hells bells, they're all lying bastards lining their own nests.

Like the American people are so stupid the don't have the intellect to understand what's really going on here.

Oh yeah, let's give these guys a few billion more! :sarcasm: