Bank of America charged with fraud over Merrill purchase - papers

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The office of the New York attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, has charged Bank of America, its former chief executive Kenneth Lewis and ex-chief financial officer Joe Price with fraud for allegedly misleading shareholders over its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

Invoking a powerful state law used to combat securities fraud, Cuomo yesterday filed a lawsuit accusing Bank of America, Lewis and Price of intentionally failing to disclose huge losses at Merrill before a shareholder vote on the merger reports the Guardian. Cuomo alleged that later the defendants misled federal government in claiming a "surprise" increase in Merrill's losses would allow BoA to back out of the merger if it did not get massive taxpayer help. BoA ultimately received $20bn (£12.7bn) of federal bailout money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which it has since repaid. ...

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