NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge refused to approve a proposed settlement between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of America Corp over the payment of bonuses to Merrill Lynch & Co employees, saying he was unable to determine if it was fair to the public.
The largest U.S. bank had agreed on August 3 to pay $33 million to resolve an SEC civil lawsuit accusing it of misleading shareholders by not disclosing it had authorized the payment of up to $5.8 billion of bonuses to Merrill employees. About $3.6 billion was awarded.
But at a hearing on Monday, Judge Jed Rakoff of the federal court in Manhattan said he needed a “much more detailed account of the underlying facts” before signing off. He suggested the settlement might not be “remotely reasonable” if the SEC were right that the bank lied about the bonuses.
“I would be less than candid if I didn’t express my continued misgivings about this settlement at this stage,” Rakoff said. He said the settlement “seems to be lacking in transparency.”
Continue reading full article here: ReutersLook at this, first they actually cut ridiculous jet spending in half (hopefully in full soon), and now 33Million tip for 6 billion bonuses is not sufficient, good to see.