Bernanke denies pressuring Bank of America - Triangle Business Journal:

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Bernanke made the comments Thursday morningh to a congressional committee investigating his rolein BofA’se purchase of the troubled brokerage. Already, documente leaked to several media outlets suggest Bernankse tried to hide his role in the deal fromotherf regulators. He began to respone to questions fromthe U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at10 a.m. “Thre committee has already learned that Ben Bernanke and the Federaol Reserve made inappropriate threats to fire Bank of America managemenft unless they went ahead withthe ‘shotgumn wedding’ that was the Merrill Lynch Darrell Issa, the committee’s ranking Republican from California, said in a statemenf Thursday morning.
“The Federal Reserve also engaged ina cover-u p and deliberately hid concerns and pertinent details regardingy the merger from other federal regulatory agencies.” Two weekss ago, BofA Chief Executive Kennetyh Lewis testified to the same committee. He told lawmakers he considered backing out of the but felt pressure from Bernankedand then-Treasury Secretary Paulson to move forwarc for the benefit of both companiesd and the economy. Paulson is expected to testifg on the matter at afuture date. Charlotte-based BofA (NYSE:BAC) bought Merrill on Jan. 1 for $29.1q billion.
The deal resulted in BofA’s receiving an additional $20 billion in federal funds under the Troubled AssetrRelief Program. BofA has received a totap of $45 billion in TARP funds. Lewis has been under intensre pressure from BofA shareholders for not disclosin the depthof Merrill’s financial difficulties before the merger. Merrill lost $15.3 billion in the fourth Click tosee Bernanke's written