BoA Chief Subpoenaed

When word broke earlier this year that Merrill Lynch may have used taxpayer money to pay out lavish bonuses shortly after Bank of America took it over, its former CEO John Thain was the sacrificial lamb. Now, however, the investigation is expanding, and the Financial Times reports that New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has issued a subpoena to Bank of America chief Ken Lewis. Lewis fired Thain when the bonus story first broke, but in recent weeks it has emerged that the Merrill bonuses were written into the merger contract signed by both Lewis and Thain and that two Bank of America executives were “actively involved in the size and scope of the bonus payments.” In all, 696 Merrill Lynch employees each received a bonus of $1 million or more at the end of December.