Merrill Lynch Bonuses Attracts Federal Attention

by Jordan Yerman | January 30, 2009 at 01:55 pm

443 views | 27 Recommendations | 12 comments

Update: The outsized bonuses awarded to Merrill Lynch execs have attracted federal attention as well.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, chairman of a subcommittee of the House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee, asked for documents related to the bonuses in letters to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Bank of America Chief Executive Ken Lewis.

Kucinich is basically saying that BofA and Merrill Lynch officials misled Congress while it oversaw the takeover.

New York's Attorney General might demand that Merrill Lynch give back the $4 billion in bonuses paid to its execs before it was taken over by Bank of America.

"Bonus" implies "a job well done". Do I even need to say more?

The attorney general’s office is looking at whether the companies’ shareholders had all necessary information about Merrill’s finances and whether federal bail-out loans to Bank of America were used properly, the person said, asking not to be identified because the investigation is confidential.

“No longer will this country stand for wasteful spending of tax dollars on bonuses for executives whose companies have taken huge losses and required taxpayer bailouts,” Cuomo said today in a statement about bonuses paid at Wall Street firms that received funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP.

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Barry ORegan

at 19:27 on January 30th, 2009

When that happens, there will be world peace!

Barry ORegan

at 19:28 on January 30th, 2009

And Santa will come down with the tooth fairy wand in hand and make all the worlds Boo Boos go away too!

mtammas

at 19:29 on January 30th, 2009

It's about time someone is taking a look at the misuse of TARP funds. Bonuses paid to those who got us into this mess? That's not only immoral, it's criminal.

Barry ORegan

at 19:29 on January 30th, 2009

And then a cure for Cancer will be found! And all Politicians will be Honest, Need I say more?

mtammas

at 19:30 on January 30th, 2009

Great story, Jordan. Thanks!

Barry ORegan

at 19:30 on January 30th, 2009

Perhaps they will pay it back all in Pesos

René

at 19:41 on January 30th, 2009

Not only should they pay back bonuses, but sell off some of their assets to repay other perks they received as forfeits for criminally driving their business into the ground. We might have to get some class-action suits against them, maybe from laid-off workers and stockholders, as well as others who have been damaged by their actions.

Emilio Lizardo

at 20:03 on January 30th, 2009

Obama Calls Wall Street Bonuses 'Shameful'
Mr. Obama was reacting to a report by the New York State comptroller that found financial executives had received an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for 2008, less than for the previous several years but the same level of bonuses as they received in 2004, when times were flush.

Let's see - don't need the Windows Calculator, I guess I can do this one in my head ...

18.4 - 4 = 14.4 BILLION !!!!

What about the other 14.4-BILLION in bonuses ?

I hope these blood suckers spend every dime of it and more on lawyers trying ( unsuccessfully, of course ) to stay out of jail !!!

caj1

at 21:20 on January 30th, 2009

Good...all I can say is good. So to Merrill Lynchers...just do it!

A. Tran

at 21:47 on January 30th, 2009

Good story, Jordan.

I definitely think Merrill Lynch's bonus recipients must return their loots, especially when the company gives the bonuses prior to Bank of America takeover.

JeffreyLin

at 02:58 on January 31st, 2009

Took this photo on September 24. Finally had a few hours to walk around Manhattan after 2 long days at the Merrill Lynch Power & Gas Leader's conference. Was a particularly interesting time to be at the Merrill Lynch headquarters for the first time. It was less than a week after Merrill Lynch's new CEO John Thain sold Merrill Lynch to Bank of America. Lehman Brother's headquarters had electronic signs, which Barclays, having just taken over Lehman, was already putting Barclays logo all over the building. I remember the market was weak those two days while we were in the conference, but if we had only known how much worse October and November of '08 would've been... here's my blog post prior to attending the conference:

(formerly known as) Merrill Lynch - Power & Gas Leaders Conference…Here I Come!

More photos from my trip to the Merrill Lynch Power & Gas Leader's Conference

JeffreyLin has contributed a photo to this story.

CIty Guy (not verified)

at 06:29 on February 11th, 2009

Stop and put think abot this.

If you were expecting a very large some of money, wouldn't you think about how to spend it. Merrill was expecting a bailout form the feds, and likely had good information that they would get it. So the spent some money which the feds would replace.

But, $4,000,000,000.00 is nothing compared to the $1,000,000,000,000.00+++ Bill, of taxpayer money, being passed by congress. Where is the rest of the $996,000,000,000.00 going.

The $4Billion is a smoke screen