Although I am not a fan of the former CEO of Bank of America, Ken Lewis, the civil suit Andrew Cuomo is looking to bring against he and BofA's CFO, Joe Price, is about as blatant a political move as one could possibly imagine; think Eliot Spitzer all over again. Forgive me if I don't believe Mr. Cuomo's motives are solely directed by the plight of the shareholders of BofA; in the long-run they're fine.
The Wall Street Journal has a wonderful Op-Ed in the Saturday, February 6th paper titled BLAMING BANK OF AMERICA, which essentially lays out the political self-interest Mr. Cuomo is exhibiting in bringing this civil case against these two executives. I guess that Mr. Cuomo misses the irony in the fact that if Misters Lewis and Price were intent on defrauding shareholders by withholding pertinent facts about Merrill's losses in December 2008, they would also be defraudung themselves and throwing their own financial self-interest under the bus; not to mention their careers and whatever could be left to say about their good names.
Needless to say this doesn't cognitively register with a lawyer whose political ambitions are squarely centered on his own future within the Democratic party and the requiste requirements of making his bones on the backs of bankers in 2010; a very convenient target that deflects any blame from the GSE congressionally enabled idiocy called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - two recipients of TARP who will never pay any of the funds back in my life-time.
So let us count the ways Ken Lewis and Joe Price have harmed BofA investors: the acquisition of Merrill has turned profitable, BofA's TARP funds have been repaid, the price per share of BAC has increased over $6.00 a share since December 2008, and Mr. Lewis has subsequently resigned as CEO. I rest my case your honor....
The Wall Street Journal has a wonderful Op-Ed in the Saturday, February 6th paper titled BLAMING BANK OF AMERICA, which essentially lays out the political self-interest Mr. Cuomo is exhibiting in bringing this civil case against these two executives. I guess that Mr. Cuomo misses the irony in the fact that if Misters Lewis and Price were intent on defrauding shareholders by withholding pertinent facts about Merrill's losses in December 2008, they would also be defraudung themselves and throwing their own financial self-interest under the bus; not to mention their careers and whatever could be left to say about their good names.
Needless to say this doesn't cognitively register with a lawyer whose political ambitions are squarely centered on his own future within the Democratic party and the requiste requirements of making his bones on the backs of bankers in 2010; a very convenient target that deflects any blame from the GSE congressionally enabled idiocy called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - two recipients of TARP who will never pay any of the funds back in my life-time.
So let us count the ways Ken Lewis and Joe Price have harmed BofA investors: the acquisition of Merrill has turned profitable, BofA's TARP funds have been repaid, the price per share of BAC has increased over $6.00 a share since December 2008, and Mr. Lewis has subsequently resigned as CEO. I rest my case your honor....
Nice commentary Robert. Would love to see an effective PR campaign that highlights the taxpayer losses (and the causes of those losses) on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts.
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