A New Sherriff by Richard Crenian

Richard Crenian Blogs
February 8, 2010
The Sherriff of Wall Street
Wow, the Globe reported a story from the Associated Press that former CEO of Bank of America Ken Lewis misled investors about Merrill Lynch before B of A acquired it.
Lovely. Imagine being misled by Wall Street. Who would have thunk.
Bottom line the story is that B of A knew that the losses at Merrill were larger than anticipated but they chose not to tell investors. A Bank doing what? To whom?
Yes those mutual fund cos that bought into B of A and thought they were going great guns. What was the problem anyhow? The Bank had to report full disclosure, right?
Wrong. So here we are that the AG’s (Attorney General’s office) is charging them, and we also learn that B o A were trying to resolve the matters with the SEC as well. (Of course since the SEC was to regulate Bank of America as well.)
Anyhow, Howard and I like investing in what we control. Simple retail shopping centers. It is what it is.
I don’t have to worry about our investments, we have professionals we deal with and life is good. We are not in the get rich quick scheme of things. Just slow and steady. Just imagine, how big your savings would be today if you started investing and saving since day 1. Assuming of course you were choosing safe investments, and not gambling on the stock market.
Call Howard at 4036304544, or email him at howardmanley@shaw.ca to discuss strategies, or write me at richardc@redevgroup.ca.
Thanks for reading.
Article attached from the Globe below.
Richard Crenian
www.redevgroup.com


From the Globe website
Stephen Bernard and Ieva M. Augstums

New York — The Associated Press
Published on Thursday, Feb. 04, 2010 11:44AM EST

Last updated on Thursday, Feb. 04, 2010 1:54PM EST


.The New York Attorney General's office said Thursday it filed civil fraud charges against Bank of America Corp. (BAC-N14.90-0.63-4.06%) and its former chief executive officer Ken Lewis, saying the bank misled investors about Merrill Lynch before it acquired the Wall Street bank in early 2009.

Civil charges were also being filed against Joe Price, the bank's former chief financial officer.

At the same time Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office was filing its civil charges, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reached a settlement to resolve separate federal charges it brought against Bank of America over similar issues. It is the second time the SEC and Bank of America have tried to settle the case.

Bank of America has been accused of failing to properly disclose losses at Merrill and bonuses paid to investment bank employees before the deal closed. Mr. Cuomo called Bank of America's actions “egregious and reprehensible” in deceiving not only shareholders, but also the federal government.

The bank received an additional $20-billion (U.S.) in government bailout funds in January, 2009, to help offset losses it absorbed as part of the Merrill Lynch acquisition. In December, Bank of America repaid the $20-billion, plus the initial $25-billion it received in government bailout money.

Mr. Lewis stepped down as CEO from Bank of America on Dec. 31 after almost a year of strife that followed the bank's purchase of Merrill Lynch. Mr. Price became head of the bank's consumer banking division, taking over for Brian Moynihan, who succeeded Mr. Lewis as CEO on Jan. 1.

Mr. Moynihan is not under investigation.