On Thursday, Lewis refused to provide a list of bonus payments to the New York Attorney General, after arriving in New York in his $50 million corporate jet. Earlier this week, President Obama said the days of bank executives flying corporate jets “were over.” Not for Bank of America.
After Lewis refused to disclose just who got what out of $3.6 billion in bonuses given to Merrill Lynch employees before the banks merged late last year, the AG’s office responded harshly in the latest saga in the brewing legal battle.
“Bank of America has made the decision they don’t want to turn that information over to us and we, therefore, tonight served Bank of America with a subpoena to turn over that information,” said Special Assistant to the New York Attorney General Benjamin Lawsky Thursday evening, “and we intend to get that by whatever means is necessary going forward.”
Lewis met with the attorney general’s office for four hours, and he claimed afterwards that he fully cooperated.
New York officials told ABC News the session with Lewis was ugly and combative. They accused Lewis and the bank of stonewalling, saying they refused to provide a list of which executives got what of the billions in bonuses.
Watch the attorney general office’s response to the meeting.
Some 700 Merrill Lynch employees received a total of $3.6 billion dollars just before the firm’s record losses became known and before it merged with Bank of America.
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