BofA CEO To Be Grilled Over Bonuses: Who Approved $3.6 Billion Payout?

ABC News:

Bank of America President Ken Lewis is set to be confronted by the lawyers for New York Attorney General Anthony Cuomo this afternoon over his statements that he had "no authority" over $3.6 billion in bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch executives last December.

Investigators say corporate documents obtained by the attorney general suggest otherwise.

Read the whole story: ABC News

Comments

[Star2000dancer]

He should be grilled over an open fire. Man he's ugly. He looks like he needs a nazi uniform.

[julzb]

just like many Americans are now personally affected by the crappy bank mistakes and am very angry how the greed at the top is still robbing us all blind with out penalty. They need to take responsibility and start paying with their own money for these tent cities. Put these people in a hotel till you get them back in a home they should be in. I am an American who has always paid my bills, has no debt and a great credit score. But now I and my husband are unemployed because of the freezing of credits. we worked hard and the night mares are begigning- We don't belong on the streets. Make these CEO's Accountible to the whole country!

[Mark701]

I honestly don't see any value in trying to figure out who got the bonuses. The thief is sitting right in front of them. He should be arrested and charged with grand larceny theft.

[vesaversa1]

here , here
lock him up

[radnip]

Get bail out by the taxpayers. Jerk customers around by using 14-day turn around on credit card payment statements, high interest rates and high fees. Win-win all around. For bankers.

[lightningbolt]

why is congress not forcing him to testify under oath? this clearly tells me that congress is covering up for the bankers. don't expect any real action from the very corrupt congress we have.

[HonorJusticeTruth]

B of A's explanation that they either didn't know or had no control over Merrill Lynch at the time the bonuses were paid out is a farce. Does anyone really think that days before an acquisition that the future owner isn't going to want to be totally aware of any large outflows of assets (money for the bonuses) from the company being acquired? And what control did they have even though they did not own them at the time? How about the reality that they could have told Merrill Lynch that if they did this the purchase was caput? To claim this was not a calculated, cynical action to reward a certain group, not for positive actions but for who they were, is just a simple lie.

[rubberstamp]

with all these write downs and losses suddenly appearing. Is anyone looking in to the accounting of these companies?
I mean they have been inflatin their value and hiding their losses for years.

Now all of a sudden with the bailout option hundreds of billions in losses are just appearing out of the blue.
is it just me or ...?

[vippy]

Bankers = Thieves! Something to be proud of LOL.

[radnip]

Bankers used to be the most conservative business people. I wonder when they became such risk-takers.

It also proves that despite what everyone was telling me (executives deserve their pay due to their performance) that this guy was getting paid because he was CEO, not because he actually worked. Someone probably told him to sign here and he did.

[ebanks84]

I hate bankers. They have brought our system to its knees and they need to be hogtied and strung up for allowing it to happen. I hope we bust each and everyone of them and send them to jail for what they've done to the American people.

[necktie-belt]

I agree, all we need is one more person (3 total) to pull this off.. 1 guy pulls his coat collar down to his elbows while another pulls his pants down to his ankles. Use his belt to tie his wrists and grab his necktie to hogtie him to a trailer hitch. Of course the third guy will need to handle any body guards with some pepper spray first.

Then just drag him through town so everybody can spit on him.

[xansam]

ken Lewis: liar, liar pants on fire

[PlayTOE]

Do you think that people might be a little bit ticked off that the bankers are gouging them at up to 30% interest and taking TARP funds ... then using the money as bonuses to executives?

Just a little ticked off ... more than a little ... try steaming mad!

[Truby]

See....thing is....no one is in control of things like bonuses.
Yes I know that I am the CEO, but that only means I get the biggest piece of the pie. No, of course these people deserve the money, they worked hard all year and have many expensive things to make payments on. If you don't give them these bonuses, they will take all the talent they possess and work for our competitors and then where would we be.
But by retaining them with these bonuses we can be sure they will put in another year of hard work and then we should be able to justify it all, if of course we are still solvent.

[bikerdude]

Balderdash...They went to work for a salary. Bonuses were, or should have been for exceptional service. Take the "talent" and run away? What talent? They lost their shirts....Besides, their competitors doing the same as you and they lost their shirts too. We are talking about a relative few employees obscenely rewarding themselves with the profit that should have been shared by everyone in the company and the shareholders.
The CEOs have no place to hide. Why don't we have these boards of directors on the grill for permitting this theft to happen.

[northstar11]

do you think they overlooked the board of directors in passing out the cash??

[northstar11]

so mr lewis and mr thain --- how much was enough to satisfy your greed.??

did you boys pocket ten mill each ?? 50? 100 million??

my guess with 3.8 billion up for grabs it could be in the 200 million range

of course we will never know because you guys wont tell .. no wonder

[SecretSister]

Let's see what we got here. Lewis says that Thain did it and Thain has documents that say that Lewis knew what Thain was doing. (The bonus amounts were even negotiated down by B of A with Thain).

It appears to me that Lewis perjured himself.

Now, let's see how Lewis slices and dices his testimony and tries to sell it to another sucker. (Kind of like how he was involved in the financial derivatives market).

[truthyguy]

I have this theory that people basically grow up to be larger versions of what they were on the elementary school playground. When you look at this guy Lewis you just know he was the kid who was unpopular, spread false rumors about the other kids who picked on him and generally got his a$$ kicked. Stealing and lying is the adult variation of the child's actions.

[bikerdude]

Unless you grew up with him, that supposition is totally unfair. Lets get clear about the crimes and the evidence at hand. He definitely appears to be lying. Lets prove that.

[truthyguy]

Let me be clear. I consider lying to cover up responsibility for misappropriation of funds to be two crimes.