BofA

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According to Dow Jones Reps. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) and Dennis Kucinich have asked Lewis to appear Thursday before the House Committee on Oversighr andGovernment Reform. Towns and Kucinich have been investigatingt BofA’s acquisition of Merrill and the government’z decision to give the Charlotte-based bank billions of dollarx intaxpayer aid. According to the news they want to know when BofA founr outabout Merrill’s weakened financial situation and how the role the federa l government played in BofA’sa decision to complete the Lawmakers also want to know what BofA has done with the federap aid it has received.
A BofA spokesman told Dow Joneas the bank will respond to thecommitteee shortly. BofA bought the Merrillk on Jan. 1 for $29.1 billion. The deal resultecd in BofA’s receiving an additional $20 billion in federal funds under the Troubled AssetRelieff Program. BofA has received a totakl of $45 billion in TARP funds. In February, Lewis testified under oath before New York Attorney General Andreww Cuomo that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernankdand then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pressured the bank not to discusxs its increasingly troubled plan to buy Merrill. Lewis said he believed Paulson and Bernanke were instructin him to keep silentabourt Merrill’s financial problems.
Merrill lost $15.3 billioh in the fourth quarter. Lewis has been undefr intense pressure from BofA shareholderd for not disclosing the depthof Merrill’s financia l difficulties before the merger. His testimony was part of an investigatio launched by Cuomo intothe $3.6 billion in bonusee Merrill paid out in Cuomo has contended BofA (NYSE:BAC) was awarr of Merrill’s decision to award bonuses before the company’sz fourth-quarter losses were announced. The bank has said Merrillk was an independent business when the bonuseswwere approved. North Carolina’ws attorney general and the Securities and Exchangd Commission are also investigatingthe matter.