SEC Brings New Charges Against Bank of America

Posted Jan 12th 2010 5:30PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Bank of America (BAC)

The Securities & Exchange Commission filed new charges against Bank of America (BAC) today, accusing the company of hiding "staggering financial losses" at Merrill Lynch prior to the consummation of the merger between the two companies.

The Associated Press has details, but there are a few interesting things about this latest development:

Current Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan was the general counsel of Bank of America at the time of the alleged disclosure improprieties. Just saying.

A spokesperson for Bank of America noted that the latest suit involves "no charges against individuals", which he said was good. But all that really means is that the full brunt of the lawsuit will be borne by Bank of America's long-suffering shareholders, since the company -- rather than any individuals -- will be on the hook for any settlement expense. The fact that the victims will be the subjects of any punishment adds an additionally farcical element to this case.
To date, the SEC has filed two lawsuits against Bank of America alleging egregious violations of securities laws. And yet, no individuals have been charged -- as though these kinds of things just happen but no one is responsible for them, like a drunk driving accident without a drunk driver.

The SEC's pursuit of Bank of America reeks of a desperate attempt to make it look like the commission is on the ball, without really doing anything that will change the company's conduct in any meaningful way.

Tags: bank of america, brian moynihan, featured, merrill lynch, sec

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-12-2010 @ 6:12PM

heyga59 said...

send them another 3 millions for executives bonus so they can raise my rayes again

1-12-2010 @ 6:30PM

Raymond R. Murray said...

Is this like if one has an automobile accident while DWI, we'll charge the car but not the driver for the accident. What kind of bull is this anyway. What a white wash of the whole affair. They most likely discusse this with the bank boys before filing these slap on the wrist fines and charges. Does the useless SEC believe the public will swollow this bullcrap hook, line and sinker or do they just think the public is unintelligent or what?