Update: CNBC reports Lewis to step down by end of year; Cuomo/BofA Smackdown: It’s On! (again)
Update 09/30: Charlie Gasparino is reporting that Ken Lewis has been pushed out (the stmt says he stepped down but I call BS)!! This is HUGE! WOTS was he had TOTAL BACKING OF THE BOARD! Recall BofA is centred in Charlotte, NC far from the Wall St shenanigans but Lewis got sucked into the ‘eeeevil banker’ canard PLUS the added bonus of ‘hide the bonuses’ with Thain. I for one would never want Andy Cuomo on my trail if I had a blessed thing to hide!
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(Reminder FD- MiM are shareholders in both BofA and were MER shareholders as well pre merger)
Bank of America’s CEO Ken Lewis, the embattled head of the nation’s biggest bank, told the board he plans to step down by the end of the year.
Lewis wasn’t asked to step down and the decision was not the result of any regulatory action, sources told CNBC. No successor has been named yet….
Original post after the break:
Original Post 091609: Ken Lewis, among others, was sleeping soundly when…
Since the judge dismissed the settlement between the SEC and BofA on the Merrill acquisition and its commensurate bonus/loss impact to shareholders, NY AG Cuomo is back with a vengeance! (and plenty of subpoeona duces tacum!)
*MiM are shareholders in both firms. Our previous posts on BofA/Merrill’s merger, bonuses, staffing, stock prices and reporting etc here . Our coverage of Cuomo’s initial move on BofA in March of 09 here. More posts on Thain/Lewis here and here and here
Recall that this BofA/Merrill fiasco was handily utilized by Congress Critters ranging from Issa (R-CA) to Kucinich (D-OH) in their attacks on the Federal Reserve. I certainly don’t expect this to help Timmeh and TOTUS’ quest for expanded Trez/Fed powers. I mean look at Welch (D-VT) grilling Hank Paulson in June (and those Dems used to schmooze Hank like nobody’s business back in 08). A LOT of people wanted this to go away. If only the judge who heard the Chrysler bondholder cramdown hearings had been as tough as Judge Rakoff!
(…)Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in New York refused to accept a settlement that would have resolved the SEC’s claim that the bank deceived investors in November about bonuses to be paid executives at Merrill Lynch & Co., which the bank was buying. Rakoff said the accord appeared to be a “contrivance” between the SEC and Bank of America and wondered why bank executives or their lawyers weren’t sued…
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has issued subpoenas to at least five board members at Bank of America demanding their testimony under oath about their knowledge of mounting losses and bonus payments at Merrill Lynch prior to BofA’s takeover of the firm on January 1, according to a source close to the investigation.
More on the timeline which is the heart of the issue IMO:
The source said investigators believe board members may have been briefed on losses and bonuses as early as the beginning of December, and the subpoenas to the board suggest Cuomo is not willing to limit his investigation to executives of the two firms.Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on those executives as well. The source says the new subpoenas are independent of Cuomo’s warning last week that he could file charges in a matter of weeks against individual executives, after uncovering evidence that the company withheld information from shareholders on multiple occasions…
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The Clash courtesy of thedoorsitaly
Moderate in the Middle 