race or in the new york times they from gretchen morgenson about bank of america
exactly at some of the told their shareholders about the merrill lynch
uh... merchant there with you into december of two thousand an eight
well it turns out the navy that shareholders some
numbers uh... which turned out to be inaccurate and before the shareholder
vote on it
they had a different set of numbers
which showed that merrill lynch was actually in a loose a lot more money by
cam lewis the c_e_o_ at the time when a pilot had with the merger he was very
interested in playing with the big boys are becoming one of the biggest banks on
wall street
and he had been in a mad
that's freedom by our of others even before two thousand eight crisis
and they suggested that uh... they pay fifty billion dollars
to by merrill lynch the shareholders approved it
now here's the problem march twenty seventh of this year twenty twelve
ken lewis was being deposed in a shareholder lawsuits by the way why was
there a lawsuit because apparently because of the wrong numbers that they
share a looser given
the bank within finding out
it within a couple weeks of finding out what merrill lynch's rilmani restore
lost nearly half of its value
fifty billion dollars
of shareholder value now that's a disaster
at close to share a little about owners of bankamerica
a tremendous amount of money
i did ken lewis nor not well that takes a slow march twenty seventh deposition
but he was being deposed and they said
did you
know that those numbers that you are giving in to the shareholders with a
wrong numbers and he says quote
they were not those numbers
meaning they were not the real numbers
barriers unsworn testimony admitting
we gave the wrong numbers for the shareholders
on purpose
now and he's not be fronting the taxpayers even even though of course
eventually they did take twenty billion dollars extra
from the taxpayers because of the disaster situation at merrill lynch was
and so we all got screwed
but mainly he screwed over the owners of his own company
cassie his interests are not aligned with their interests he was a grow
bigger he wants to do well in the short term at the shareholder sega bath later
well that's their problem not miss elliott and lewis is problem
and uh... so he deceived them
now how do i know that it's criminal well
don't take my word for it
jeffrey j brown was the banks former treasurer
and he told joe price who was bank of america's
chief financial officer at the time
after hearing about the new numbers that were much worse for merrill lynch he
said
the failure to disclose quote could be a criminal offense
saying that he did not want to be talking through glass wall over a
telephone
if no disclosure
was made that is according to the filings
in the legal case
in other words here's a treasure telling the c_f_o_
this is possibly criminal
let's not do this you've got to tell us your whole list for the real merrill
lynch numbers are
he is of course
totally ignored
they don't share the real numbers
this is app right after a december third meeting
for all these actors including ten was
also were told about the numbers
and how they were starkly different to what the public was let me
and what the proxy statement told of the shareholders okay
and then one final piece the puzzle uh... timothy mail polis was bank of
america is general counsel and he was on the board
when he saw this doing a lot of credit credit he expressed surprise them on a
loss
the merrill lynch was going to
and he said he had not been told about it and he tried to speak the chief
financial officer that's again the same heard joe price about the purse
possibility viscose ng losses
here's what happened
they take their own general counsel is on the board bigger all you want to talk
about those possible losses
your flyer click
in fact joining them
opportunity clean out your desk
he was escorted from the building
now you'd tell me whether you think that is a cover-up burn up
looked on the surface it seems
obvious they have the numbers they would share with a shareholders that is fraud
mid own general counsel said don't do it their own treasurer said is possibly
criminal ignored them and they'd fired the latter or they fired uh... the
john counsel i should say
and get them out of the building as quickly as possible
obon administration always his content
the silly promos all that we can do what i do that
well prosecutor any other bankers
but here's an action
that appears to be clearly criminal
you have the c_e_o_ admitting in a deposition well yeah i knew the real
numbers and i didn't tell the shareholders
okay
at the very least civil fraud
very very least would actually go after bank of america
only time will tell
if ed any
if history is any guide at all dancers absolutely not
they'll go after you know might have people like john edwards on trumped up
charges
goal or laffer anybody do you think is the easy political pray
including some other people on wall street that are not as politically
connected that don't make as many political contributions when it comes to
the big bankers who run uh... washington is uh... dick durbin was famously said
the senator from chicago
answer from illinois
well they only those guys alone here it is
you have a clear clear case what do you do about it
my guess is not a damn thing
so what i asked
hey how can anyone it possibly think of mit romney is on the side loader
and is not representing the billionaires a lot of people say what you're right
nobody can possibly think that
but they also can possibly believe the robot must on the side of the little guy
when it comes to protect the bankers
well obama's in a terrific job at it