BoA Gets Subpoena to Release Bonus Information

When Bank of America refused to speak up about the bonuses, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo decided to issue a subpoena for a list of employees who received bonuses and amount received, Reuters reported. The move is part of an ongoing probe into $3.6 billion of bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch days before it was acquired by BoA (see “Probe of Merrill Bonuses Continues’).

BoA Chief Executive Ken Lewis was subpoenaed last week in the ongoing investigation (see “Cuomo Supoenas BoA’s Lewis’). Then Cuomo filed a court motion Monday to force former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain to discuss the bonuses (see “Cuomo Files to Force Thain to Discuss Merrill Bonuses’). ABC news reported that Thain revealed the names to the attorney general Tuesday of executives who received multi-million dollar bonuses.

Citing anonymous sources, ABC reported that Merrill and BoA agreed that Merrill could award billions of dollars in performance bonuses. The bonuses were agreed upon following a conversation between Thain, Lewis, and Steele Alphin, a top aide to Lewis.