By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com
September 9, 2009
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's Office has fired off a
letter to Bank of America, accusing executives there of stonewalling
his investigation into the bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
Cuomo is investigating whether Bank Of America violated the law when it purchased the failing brokerage firm earlier this year. Cuomo deputy David Markowitz says an investigation has found at least four instances in the fourth quarter of 2008 where Bank of America and its senior officers failed to disclose material non-public information to its shareholders.
Markowitz complains that Bank of America has not been fully cooperative in the Attorney General's Office investigation.
"We are at the stage in our investigation in which we are making charging decisions with respect to Bank of America and its executives," Markowitz said in a letter to the bank. "However, Bank of America's indiscriminate invocation of the attorney-client privilege is hindering this Office's ability to make fair and fully informed decisions as to what charges, if any, to bring and whether individual Bank of America officers should be charged."
Marowitz said investigators cannot accept Bank of America's officers' "naked assertions" that they sought and relied on advice of counsel in good faith, and that, therefore, they should not be charged. Markowitz asked bank executives to reconsider their decision "to prevent this Office from adequately probing these crucial issues."
Bank of America is being investigated over four key issues. Among them - that Bank of America was aware of Merrill's ever growing losses but did not share that bit of information with stockholders before shareholders voted to approve the deal. Investigators say Bank of America executives also failed to disclose a $2 billion goodwill writedown in asset value before Bank of America stockholders approved the merger.
