A little out of nowhere comes the following from the SEC on Monday. Via Reuters:
Bank of America has agreed to pay $33 million to settle charges that it made false and misleading statements to investors about bonuses at Merrill Lynch, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday. In a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, the SEC said Bank of America claimed that Merrill had agreed not to pay year-end performance bonuses or other incentive compensation to Merrill executives before the Jan. 1, 2009, without Bank of America’s permission.
But Bank of America had authorized Merrill to pay discretionary year-end bonuses, according to the SEC. Merrill paid $3.6 billion in bonuses near the end of 2008 despite losing $27.6 billion that year. The SEC seeks an injunction barring Bank of America executives from breaking securities laws and seeks fine. “Companies must give shareholders all material information about corporate transactions they are asked to approve,” said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Failing to disclose that a struggling company will pay out billions of dollars in performance bonuses obviously violates that duty and warrants the significant financial penalty imposed by today’s settlement.”
You can read the full filing here:
The news follows three more high-profile resignations from Bank of America last week.