By Bob Van Voris -
The New York Attorney General?s office has taken testimony from 53 witnesses in its investigation into Bank of America Corp.?s 2008 acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co., a federal judge said.
U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan said in an order today that ?there have been 53 examinations under oath by the NYAG? in its investigation. The witnesses weren?t identified in the order, which involved evidence gathering in the case.
Castel, who is overseeing separate shareholder litigation over the Merrill Lynch deal, said the depositions overlap with information sought by both sides in the litigation in his court.
The attorney general?s office, under Andrew Cuomo, now New York?s governor, sued Bank of America, former Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis and former Chief Financial Officer Joseph Price in February 2010. In November, Eric Schneiderman replaced Cuomo as attorney general.
The state accused Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America of misleading shareholders about huge losses at Merrill Lynch to win approval of the deal and then manipulating the federal government into contributing bailout funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to complete it.
Danny Kanner, a spokesman for Schneiderman, had no immediate comment on Castel?s order.
Bob Stickler, a Bank of America spokesman, said in an e-mail that all of the depositions were taken while Cuomo was attorney general.
?The vast majority of them were in 2009 and early 2010,? Stickler said. ?There is nothing new on the deposition front.?
The case is In re Bank of America Corp. (BAC) Securities, Derivative and ERISA Litigation, 09-mdl-2058, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
To contact the reporters on this story: Bob Van Voris in Manhattan federal court at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net.
bankruptcy lawyers albuquerque albuquerque bankruptcy attorney albuquerque bankruptcy
No comments:
Post a Comment