Bank of America Hands Over Docs

More trouble may be on the horizon for Bank of America: BofA has agreed to waive attorney-client privilege and give New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo legal records that will help him determine whether top executives should have alerted shareholders to Merrill Lynch’s losses late last year, as BofA was getting ready to acquire the investment bank. Cuomo’s prosecutors also plan to investigate how then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s threat to fire top-level employees if BofA didn’t go forward with the deal might have affected BofA’s decision and the $3.62 billion in bonuses awarded by Merrill. BofA CEO Ken Lewis recently resigned and the investigation could influence in-house candidates for Lewis’ job.