http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/3840235
February 04, 2010
Charlie Gasparino over at the Daily Beast points out a new development in the neverending Ken Lewis saga, which if true, may mark the beginning of the end of the "pristine" image of Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson:
In defending former Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis against charges that he misled investors, his lawyers will call as witnesses former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and the current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, according to people close to the matter. The defense team, led by former US Attorney Mary Joe White, hopes to get Paulson and Bernanke to reveal that Lewis did not mislead the government about BofA's deteriorating financial condition in the aftermath of its Merrill Lynch deal. Those losses prompted a massive government bailout.
As we noted in our earlier commentary, a full prosecution against Ken Lewis would have to certainly implicate Bernanke and Paulson for the complicity in pushing Lewis to go ahead with the Merrill transaction. In reality the former CEO is just a fall guy for interests of Goldman Sachs, as personified by Bernanke and Paulson, and specifically by their actions, which as has been disclosed previously, were to make it all too clear that Lewis had no other option but to acquire Merrill.
It is unclear if either Bernanke or Paulson have already given testimony to the state attorney general in preparation for bringing today's case, which includes civil fraud charges against former Bank of America CFO Joe Price. (A spokesman for Cuomo's office did not return a call for comment; a spokesman for Bernanke had no comment and a spokeswoman for Paulson didn't return an email request for comment. And a spokesman for Lewis declined to comment on the matter.) So far, both men have given testimony before Congressional committees on the controversial merger. Paulson address (sic) the matter in On the Brink, his new book about his role in the financial meltdown of late 2008.
Get Ya Popcorn ! ! !
February 04, 2010
Charlie Gasparino over at the Daily Beast points out a new development in the neverending Ken Lewis saga, which if true, may mark the beginning of the end of the "pristine" image of Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson:
In defending former Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis against charges that he misled investors, his lawyers will call as witnesses former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and the current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, according to people close to the matter. The defense team, led by former US Attorney Mary Joe White, hopes to get Paulson and Bernanke to reveal that Lewis did not mislead the government about BofA's deteriorating financial condition in the aftermath of its Merrill Lynch deal. Those losses prompted a massive government bailout.
As we noted in our earlier commentary, a full prosecution against Ken Lewis would have to certainly implicate Bernanke and Paulson for the complicity in pushing Lewis to go ahead with the Merrill transaction. In reality the former CEO is just a fall guy for interests of Goldman Sachs, as personified by Bernanke and Paulson, and specifically by their actions, which as has been disclosed previously, were to make it all too clear that Lewis had no other option but to acquire Merrill.
It is unclear if either Bernanke or Paulson have already given testimony to the state attorney general in preparation for bringing today's case, which includes civil fraud charges against former Bank of America CFO Joe Price. (A spokesman for Cuomo's office did not return a call for comment; a spokesman for Bernanke had no comment and a spokeswoman for Paulson didn't return an email request for comment. And a spokesman for Lewis declined to comment on the matter.) So far, both men have given testimony before Congressional committees on the controversial merger. Paulson address (sic) the matter in On the Brink, his new book about his role in the financial meltdown of late 2008.
Get Ya Popcorn ! ! !
