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September 15, 2009

Judge Rejects Bank of America Settlement
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In other business news, a federal judge has overturned a $33 million
settlement between Bank of America and the Securities and Exchange
Commission over the $3.6 billion bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch
executives just before the bank’s takeover by Bank of America. Judge
Rakoff questioned why the SEC didn’t file charges against individual
executives at Bank of America and Merrill Lynch who allegedly filed
faulty disclosures to mislead investors about the size of the bonuses.
Rakoff said of the settlement, "It is not fair, first and foremost,
because it does not comport with the most elementary notions of justice
and morality, in that it proposes that the shareholders who were the
victims of the Bank’s alleged misconduct now pay the penalty for that
misconduct.”



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