NY AG: Before Losing $15 Billion, Merrill Lynch Quietly Made 696 Employees Millionaires

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wrote a letter yesterday to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), head of the House Financial Services Committee, (which is currently holding hearings Washington on how banks are spending bailout funds.) In the letter, Cuomo expresses concern that Merrill Lynch moved up their bonus schedule so that they could make sure that taxpayers would get the bill.

One disturbing question that must be answered is whether Merrill Lynch and Bank of America timed the bonuses in such a way as to force taxpayers to pay for them through the deal funding. We plan to require top officials at both Merrill Lynch and Bank of America to answer this question and to provide justifications for the massive bonuses they paid ahead of their massive losses. As you know, my Office recently issued subpoenas seeking the testimony of former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, as well as the testimony of Bank of America Chief Administrative Officer J. Steele Alphin. I expect we will also be seeking the testimony of other top executives at these firms.

In addition, the AG goes on to bust the myth that Merrill's hefty bonuses were spread out among a wide swath of employees, and were therefor actually quite modest. It turns out that while they did pay bonuses to some 39,000 employees, Merrill made 700 employees millionaires overnight. Cuomo says, "the vast majority of these funds were disproportionately distributed to a small number of individuals."

Bearing in mind that Merrill moved up its bonus payments in advance of its announced $15 billion quarterly loss and $27 billion annual loss, we have determined that Merrill Lynch made the following bonus payments:

* The top four bonus recipients received a combined $121 million;
* The next four bonus recipients received a combined $62 million;
* The next six bonus recipients received a combined $66 million;
* Fourteen individuals received bonuses of $1 0 million or more and combined they received more than $250 million;
* 20 individuals received bonuses of $8 million or more;
* 53 individuals received bonuses of $5 million or more;
* 149 individuals received bonuses of $3 million or more;
* Overall, the top 149 bonus recipients received a combined $858 million;
* 696 individuals received bonuses of $1 million or more.
Again, these payments and their curious timing raise serious questions as to whether the Merrill Lynch and Bank of America Boards of Directors were derelict in their duties and violated their fiduciary obligations.

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[edit on 11-2-2009 by jhill76]

I don't even know what to say.

But I felt as if I needed to reply to the OP.

my reply.... hmmm....

I'm Speechless.

Starred, flagged, and spotlighted!

Jeez people this proves that those morons knew what was coming but did nothing except cash their big paychecks BECAUSE they knew the gov't would bail them out. I'm sure some politicos pockets where lined as well.

I would like to know exactly who recieved that money and see what contacts they have. This stinks all over the place of gov't corruption, jeez. It's crap like this that makes me wanna put each and everyone one of those jokers on blast.

Oh well, karma is a mofo, which is why the nwo/illumanit/any group that tries to rule the world is doomed to fail. Everyone gets their comeupins, everyone

I think they should publish the names and addresses of all of the bonus givers and recipients, so anyone who needs some extra cash knows who to borrow it from.

Seriously, can anyone even pretend to justify this insanity?

Thanks for reporting this. It's news like this people need to know. The ethics at these banking insitutions is terrible and it's one of the reasons the economy is in the way it is. Getting large bonuses when you post multi billion dollar losses is questionable, getting large bonuses when your receiving tax payer money is completely unacceptable.

So according to these figures they paid out a minimum of $1.4 billion in bonuses. Is that a normal amount of bonus money for them to pay out?

its just jaw dropping
no doubt people are speechless i mean what can you say
i have a hard time getting a Christmas bonus at work my last company gave me a card with a 10 dollar certificate to safeway they probably spent more on the card and envelope

and the banksters get massive bonuses just for showing up to work on a Tuesday unfricken believable

i think everyone should take their money out of the banking system......

Originally posted by jhill76

One disturbing question that must be answered is whether Merrill Lynch and Bank of America timed the bonuses in such a way as to force taxpayers to pay for them through the deal funding. .

[edit on 11-2-2009 by jhill76]

Um here - let me answer this question for the courts so they don't have to spend even more of my hard earned money on a ridiculous investigation.

YES!

Disturbing question answered.


[edit on 11-2-2009 by spinkyboo]

Originally posted by g raj
I think they should publish the names and addresses of all of the bonus givers and recipients, so anyone who needs some extra cash knows who to borrow it from.

Seriously, can anyone even pretend to justify this insanity?

Shaming them by publicly listing their names sounds like a great idea. Dont know about the address part though since it could cause pitch forks to rise up.

I wonder if the people at the banks do have any shame though? Could be a good psychology experiment to see if investment bankers have any shame.

reply to post by Desolate Cancer


Lets see if they bleed instead.

Seeing as they practically rule the country, if they are actually conducting business legit (to some level) they can keep their profits and be a millionaire if they wish.

But when they ROB the people (blatantly especially), they deserve nothing.

greed rules human nature. it's hard to refuse millions of dollars to your pocket, regardless of who was screwed out of the process. i bet if you were one of those people in line for bonuses, you would take it.

I have no intelligent reply for this.

There is sooo much crap going on out there I just want to get off ATS for a while and live in la la land to give my mind some time to de-stress and forget. I could really go off on this I am so fed up but I'm gonna stop.


edit to s&f. Just so I won't be the only really angry person out here.

[edit on 11-2-2009 by liveandlearn]

Why do they do this???Because we the people do nothing about it or anything else for that matter except complain.

You have three republicans that sold us out to the dems,RECALL them,we have the power to remove the political figures that lie and ignor the peoples wishs.What?speak up,turn down the TV,take that chip out of your mouth,now what did you say?You dont know how,no time,never work(people in California made it work,people in Illinois got rid of Blgo).Lets go everyone,I will start one on Harry Ried,anyone else??Ya I know ,waste of time,well back to complaining.Have a nice day

reply to post by Battleline


That whole Chicago governor case also had the media on its side it seems.

You know how many people spoke out against Bush?

Funny how Republicans have become good the guys.

i wish i got a million dollar bonus...haha...

but on a serious note, its really #ed up that the people who already have money just make more and more money, in amounts unfathomable to the average worker in the US. how could corporations be allowed to, essentially, WASTE money on these people who dont need it while there are people in our country unable to feed their children a nutritious meal due to the crummy economy and lack of job opportunities...doesnt make sense to let your fellow countrymen go belly up like that while you wallow in your riches. pretty disheartening in fact.

Originally posted by ThePiemaker
So according to these figures they paid out a minimum of $1.4 billion in bonuses. Is that a normal amount of bonus money for them to pay out?

thats a good point... it would be interesting to see how much those companies paid out in bonuses in the last few years. comparing it to past years would help determine if 2008's amount was abnormally large and thusly evident of wrong doing.

reply to post by jhill76


In a Land where Greed rules above ethics, morals and honesty, does this
surprise me. Apparently Not. I am surprised the Reward for Failure was
not Larger.

Those 4 people that got the 120Mil (crikey), shouldn't the Tax Department
get more than 50% back in Taxes. Unless they gave the Money to their
Pet Cat and therefore owe $0 in tax.

What bothers me is the thought that if things were to get really bad, these rich scum of the earth slime bags would most likely be the ones with enough resources to survive unscathed and then rebuild a new corrupt society.

This world makes me sick