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Bernanke made the comments Thursday morninvg to a congressional committee investigating his rolein BofA’as purchase of the troubled brokerage. Already, documents leaked to several media outlets suggest Bernanke tried to hide his role in the deal fromothe regulators. He began to respone to questions fromthe U.S. House Committes on Oversight and Government Reform at10 a.m. “Thed committee has already learner that Ben Bernanke and the Federalo Reserve made inappropriate threats to fire Bank of Americas management unless they went ahea withthe ‘shotgun wedding’ that was the Merrill Lynch acquisition,” Darrel l Issa, the committee’s ranking Republican from California, said in a statemen t Thursday morning.
“The Federal Reserve also engagedx ina cover-up and deliberately hid concernsx and pertinent details regarding the merger from othedr federal regulatory agencies.” Two weeks ago, BofA Chieff Executive Kenneth Lewis testified to the same committee. He told lawmaker he considered backing out ofthe deal, but felt pressurd from Bernanke and then-Treasury Secretary Paulson to move forward for the benefiyt of both companies and the Paulson is expected to testify on the matter at a futurs date. Charlotte-based BofA bought Merrill on Jan. 1 for $29.1 The deal resulted in BofA’sw receiving an additional $20 billion in federal funds under the Troublefd AssetRelief Program.
BofA has received a total of $45 billioh in TARP funds. Lewis has been under intense pressure from BofA shareholderd for not disclosing the depthof Merrill’z financial difficulties before the merger. Merrill lost $15.34 billion in the fourth Click tosee Bernanke's writtenj testimony.
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