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BoA to pay 33 mln dlrs to settle Merrill accusations
AFP - Tuesday, August 4
NEW YORK (AFP) - - Bank of America agreed to pay 33 million dollars to settle a government lawsuit alleging it deceived shareholders on bonuses at Merrill Lynch bonuses as it was buying the nearly bankrupt firm, officials said Monday.
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The US Securities and Exchange Commission said it sued Bank of America in a New York federal court "for misleading investors about billions of dollars in bonuses" being paid to Merrill executives at the time of the takeover.
Bank of America agreed to settle the SEC's charges and pay a penalty of 33 million dollars, without admitting or denying the allegations, the SEC said.
The SEC alleged that Bank of America, the biggest US bank by assets, had made "false and misleading" statements to its shareholders about executive pay at the ailing Wall Street investment bank.
"The SEC alleges that in proxy materials soliciting the votes of shareholders on the proposed acquisition of Merrill, Bank of America stated that Merrill had agreed that it would not pay year-end performance bonuses or other discretionary compensation to its executives prior to the closing of the merger without Bank of America's consent," the SEC said.
"In fact, Bank of America had already contractually authorized Merrill to pay up to 5.8 billion dollars in discretionary bonuses to Merrill executives for 2008."
That executive payout was nearly 12 percent of the 50 billion dollar acquisition deal backed by taxpayer dollars.
"The fine seems small given the amount of shareholder money that went to employees at Merrill for performance in a year in which the company almost went out of business," said Douglas McIntyre of 24/7WallSt.com.
Merrill Lynch's payment of cash bonuses on December 29, just ahead of the finalization of its acquisition by Bank of America on January 1, sparked an outcry in the US over executive compensation, particularly involving government bailed-out firms.
Merrill had posted a fourth-quarter loss of 15.8 billion dollar and Bank of America had received 20 billion dollars in federal aid to help it acquire the nearly bankrupt firm.
Bank of America repeatedly insisted it had left Merrill to operate independently before the takeover, as required by law, and had asked Merrill for updates about its sitution after the takeover deal was signed in September.
"Companies must give shareholders all material information about corporate transactions they are asked to approve," said Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC's division of enforcement.
"Failing to disclose that a struggling company will pay out billions of dollars in performance bonuses obviously violates that duty and warrants the significant financial penalty imposed by today's settlement."
The SEC said that Bank of America's agreement to allow Merrill to pay these discretionary bonuses was in a separate document that was omitted from the proxy statement "and whose contents were never disclosed before the shareholders' vote on the merger."
The SEC said the settlement was subject to court approval and that its investigation was ongoing.
Shares in Bank of America were up 3.72 percent to 15.34 dollars at 1730 GMT in New York trading.
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A man uses an ATM at a Bank of America branch in Pasadena, California. The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday said Bank of America would pay 33 million dollars to settle allegations of false statements in connection with its takeover of Merrill Lynch.
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