Posted on Thursday, 4th February 2010 by debtpreventions
The now retired and former CEO of Bank of America Corp, Ken Lewis has been named in a civil fraud suit by New York AG Andrew Cuomo.
The suit alleges that Lewis and former CFO Joe Price mislead investors and the government when purchasing Merrill Lynch & Co in 2008. Cuomo contends that the two officers understated the losses at Merrill in order to get BOA investors to approve the deal. Once the merger was completed, they then overstated the firm’s willingness to terminate the deal because of the losses unless the government provided a second bailout.
The government provided $20 billion in additional bailout money for the combined BOA and Merrill companies in Jan 2009. BOA is currently involved in a $150 million settlement agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its decision to pay billions of dollars in bonuses to former Merrill employees.
Tags: Bank, Lender
Posted in Bank | Comments (2)
February 5th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Having worked with clients facing complex economic concerns, often debt settlement avails as the most advantageous option for the consumer. However, many baby boomers feel obligated to honor their card holder, personal loan mortgage agreements despite the substantial reduction in their debt offered through our planning and tools, because of good old fashioned American ethics. I believe that if those such as the BOA executive mentioned above are being sued than what is nefarious about exploring a viable alternative to being debt free typically in 3 years with a sharp (on average 35%) decrease in your monthly obligations with your bank on credit cards and mortgage payments?
February 8th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Everyone involved in the credit extension, collections, or settlement industries have been under the microscope of regulators. These related industries have the worst track record when it comes to consumer complaints. The bankers claim that everything they do is perfectly legal. It may be so, however, it doesn’t sound legal. And, some regulators in DC let them get away with it. I applaud Cuomo for all he is doing. His actions appear to be fair, just, and genuine.