Cuomo to Question Bank of America Board on ‘Economic Debacle’
By Karen Freifeld and David Mildenberg

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) — New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomosaid he wants to question the role of Bank of America Corp.directors in the “economic debacle of a generation.”

Cuomo subpoenaed five board members in a probe of the bank’s purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co., a person close to the investigation said yesterday. While Cuomo didn’t comment on subpoenas during a press conference today, he said he has specific questions about what the board was told by management of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank.

“We went through an economic debacle of a generation,” Cuomo said about his interest in probing bank-board actions. “What happened? How did it happen? What did we learn and how are sure it’s not going to happen again? That’s what I’m thinking about here.”

Bank of America bought Merrill on Jan. 1 for $29 billion including preferred shares after the world’s biggest brokerage firm sought a partner during the same September weekend in which Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed. Shareholders and regulators have accused Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis of failing to disclose Merrill’s mounting losses and $3.6 billion in bonus payments before the sale was approved.

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