[Corp. Watch] If more CEOs faced criminal investigation, corporate impunity would decrease

[Corporation Watch]

Bank of America CEO Subpoenaed

(CNN, Feb. 20) -- Bank of America Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lewis has  
been issued a subpoena by the New York State Attorney General's  
Office, which is investigating whether the bank violated state law by  
withholding information from investors, a source familiar with the  
investigation told CNN.

	Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been highly critical of Wall Street  
firms in general, and Merrill Lynch in particular, for the way they  
have conducted themselves in the midst of a financial crisis.

	Last week, Cuomo accused Merrill Lynch, which was acquired by Bank of  
America late last year, of secretly doling out big bonuses before  
reporting a huge quarterly loss.

	"Merrill Lynch's decision to secretly and prematurely award  
approximately $3.6 billion in bonuses, and Bank of America's apparent  
complicity in it, raise serious and disturbing questions," he wrote in  
a letter to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House  
Committee on Financial Services.

	In his letter to Frank, Cuomo said Merrill gave bonuses of at least  
$1 million each to 696 employees, with a combined $121 million going  
to the top four recipients.

	The next four recipients were awarded a total of $62 million, and the  
next six received $66 million, he said. In all, the bonuses for 2008  
totaled $3.6 billion.

	"While more than 39,000 Merrill employees received bonuses from the  
pool, the vast majority of these funds were disproportionately  
distributed to a small number of individuals," Cuomo wrote. "Indeed,  
Merrill chose to make millionaires out of a select group of 700  
employees."

	The New York attorney general said Merrill "awarded an even smaller  
group of top executives what can only be described as gigantic bonuses."

	Cuomo also claimed Merrill handed out the bonuses ahead of its  
federally funded acquisition by Bank of America, which was announced  
in mid-September and closed by year's end.

	It "appears that, instead of disclosing their bonus plans in a  
transparent way as requested by my office, Merrill Lynch secretly  
moved up the planned date to allocate bonuses, and then richly  
rewarded their failed executives," Cuomo wrote.

	Bank of America has received $45 billion in federal bail-out money,  
including $20 billion to support its takeover of Merrill. Bank of  
America reported a net loss of $1.79 billion for the fourth quarter.  
Merrill reported a net loss of $15.31 billion for the fourth quarter.

	Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri that Merrill was "an  
independent company" when the bonuses were awarded.

	"Bank of America did urge the bonuses be reduced, including those at  
the high end," Silvestri wrote. "Although we had a right of  
consultation, it was their ultimate decision to make."

	Silvestri said the top executives for Bank of America "took no  
incentive compensation for 2008," with an 80 percent reduction for the  
"next level" of executives.

	Top executives from Bank of America -- as well as Bank of New York  
Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley,  
State Street and Wells Fargo -- appeared before the Financial Services  
Committee last week to explain how they spent the $165 billion they  
received from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

	In the testimony, Lewis said he received no bonus for 2008 and was  
paid a salary of $1.5 million.

	Bank of America's stock, which traded higher than $40 a share in the  
past year, closed at a fresh 52-week low of $3.93 a share Thursday.  
It's the largest bank in terms of assets in the United States and is  
headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.