Wall Street "circling the wagons" on BofA

@ The Agonist By Michael Collins

So this is how it's going to be. They're circling the wagons.

Lauren Tara LaCapra of The.Street.Com offered one of the first responses to the http://www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2010/feb/BoA_Complaint.pdf">fraud lawsuit by New York State against the Bank of America (BofA) (Pondering Cuomo Vs. Bank of America).

LaCapra states categorically:

As it stands, no evidence has been presented that Lewis & Co. understated or "mischaracterized" Merrill's losses at any given time. LaCapra

This is simply wrong. "Mischaracterized" is putting it mildly when you review the complaint by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Defendants Kenneth Lewis, former BofA CEO and president, and Joseph Price, former CFO (still with BofA), understate Merrill Lynch losses to the bank board by over 40%. Cuomo presents a time line and evidence to support that.

The following chart shows the losses known and forecasted based on bank records. They're alarming.



Aside from what this says about due diligence, the numbers show a rapid acceleration in known and forecasted losses over just a five day period prior to the shareholders vote on the merger on December 5 and the BofA board meeting on December 9.

The numbered paragraphs below are from the attorney general's complaint:

138. (Corporate Treasurer) Brown voiced this concern to Price before the shareholder vote, saying that he believed the losses ought to be disclosed to shareholders. Brown told Price that “I felt that we should disclose; that the losses were meaningful enough.” He explained that “at this point it’s about a $9 billion after tax number. That’s a fairly significant loss for a corporation to experience in one quarter, and withholding that could potentially result in items like we’re discussing today.” After Price dismissed Brown’s concerns, Brown offered an unforgettable warning: "I stated to Mr. Price that I didn’t want to be talking through a glass wall over a telephone." (pp. 39,40)


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