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Probe into bonuses for Merrill Lynch bosses
Bill Condie05.03.09
New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo has issued subpoenas for seven Merrill Lynch executives who scooped tens of millions of dollars in bonuses even as the firm racked up losses of $27.6 billion (£19.69 billion).
The executives include Andrea Orcel, the top investment banker at Merrill, global sales and trading chief Thomas Montag and Peter Kraus, Merrill's former head of strategy, the Wall Street Journal said.
Orcel and Montag now work at Bank of America, which acquired Merrill Lynch in January. Kraus is chief executive of investment-management firm AllianceBernstein Holding.
They were paid more than $25 million each in 2008.
Cuomo is looking into whether Merrill Lynch broke securities laws on public disclosure of executive pay.
The subpoenas come as ratings agency Moody's warned it is considering further downgrades for Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.
