Judge Overturns Bonus Settlement

President Obama isn’t the only one scolding banks on Monday: A federal district judge overturned a settlement between Bank of America and the SEC over the $3.6 billion in bonuses that Merrill Lynch paid its executives right before BofA took it over. The $33 million settlement “does not comport with the most elementary notions of justice and morality,” Judge Jed S. Rakoff wrote. The bank and the SEC have been directed to prepare for a trial that will begin no later than February 1. “It is quite something else for the very management that is accused of having lied to its shareholders to determine how much of those victims’ money should be used to make the case against the management go away,” Rakoff wrote.