Posted on 04/23/2009 10:33:44 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The integrity of the government's bailout actions are called into question by a new report. There's a lot at stake.
A new report by the New York Attorney General says that government officials bullied Bank of America Chief Ken Lewis into accepting a merger with Merrill Lynch--then ordered him to keep mum about losses at Merrill.
What's at stake? The integrity of the government's bailout actions, for one. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's reputation, for another. And of course Lewis' job.
Thursday, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo released documents charging that in December former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pressured Lewis into accepting the merger or risk a management shake-up at Bank of America ( BAC - news - people ). Lewis was hesitant about the merger because Merrill's projected fourth-quarter losses had jumped from $9 billion to $12 billion in just one week. They eventually topped $15 billion.
Equally as important, Lewis didn't make Paulson's threat public, nor did he tell Merrill Lynch or warn shareholders about the staggering losses. According to a letter to lawmakers and regulators, Paulson and Bernanke told him to keep mum.
"I was instructed that 'We do not want a public disclosure,'" the letter quotes Lewis as saying.
"No one at the Federal Reserve advised Ken Lewis or Bank of America on any questions of disclosure," says Fed spokeswoman Michelle Smith. "It has long been the Federal Reserve's view that questions of this nature are best addressed by individual institutions and their legal counsel, as they are in a position to understand clearly their obligations and responsibilities."
A spokewoman for Paulson, who has taken up residence at Johns Hopkins University's School for Advanced International Studies, didn't respond to a request for comment. Nonetheless, don't be surprised if Bernanke and Paulson are soon called before
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
po’ ‘lil ken lewis looks like he’s going to cry!
I bet the White House will respond sometime during or shortly after Rush Limbaugh is done for the weekend.
Question is, how many more damaging items will be released tomorrow. Can we now detect a pattern?
only lewis neck is on the the line he’s going talk
he still should be fired though, his first responsiblity is to shareholders and he let the government bully him around
(Can I say that?)
No, not now.
There is a pattern of releasing news at about 3pm Eastern time on Friday.
I have seen it.
yitbos
Regarding their commercial accounts, they are allowed to report them at full value as if full of tenants with payments at 100% on all commercial properties.
That is how the B of A are showing that 3 billion profit.
It's bogus and they are having them do what they hated Enron doing by order of the government.
We live in STRANGE days.
The Chief Financial Officer of Freddie Mac knew what was going on. He worked in the accounting dept. for about 16 years. What ever happened to his tesitmony?
yitbos
This explains why the “torture photos” are being released now.
Bernanke bullied B of A and Paulson bullied Wells Fargo. It was obscene and BO has only built on their disasters.
yitbos
Bingo. And Pelosi/waterboarding, Harmon/wiretapping, etc. Both of those stories came out of nowhere with no source in the past couple of days.
It would be interesting to start a list of only “Friday stories” LOL.
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