Bank Of America Investigated By The FBI?

The U.S. authorities are investigating the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America Corp., the Charlotte Observer reported. According to this newspaper, the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI started an investigation six months ago, but the purpose and possible conclusions are not known.

Bank of America Spokesperson Scott Silvestri declined to confirm the report by the Charlotte Observer, but did state that the bank had provided thousands of documents to several governmental authorities and that "there is no basis for charges against the company or individuals on the management team."

The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI declined comment on the information published by the Charlotte Observer.

Bank of America has been facing a wave of civil lawsuits since the acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

Additionally, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the New York Attorney General"s Office and the North Carolina Attorney General"s Office are investigating whether Bank of America breached federal laws by not informing its shareholders of Merrill Lynch"s plan to pay 3.6 billion USD in bonuses before they voted in favour of the acquisition.

Merrill Lynch paid such bonuses in December 2008, days before being acquired by Bank of America and one month before the usual time for such payments. Nevertheless, international media tend to believe that Bank of America did not have an obligation to inform its shareholders about the Merrill Lynch bonuses.

However, the bonuses sparked ardent controversy as Merrill Lynch had suffered a tremendous 27.5 billion USD loss in the year for which the bonuses were paid and, moreover, had requested governmental aid.