Bernanke denies pressuring BofA - Baltimore Business Journal:

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Bernanke made the comments Thursday morning to a congressional committee investigating his rolein BofA’se purchase of the troubled brokerage. documents leaked to several media outlets suggest Bernankse tried to hide his role in the deal fromothe regulators. He began to responsd to questions fromthe U.S. Houss Committee on Oversight and Government Reforjm at10 a.m. “The committeed has already learned that Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve made inappropriate threatws to fire Bank of Americq management unless they went ahea withthe ‘shotgun wedding’ that was the Merrilp Lynch acquisition,” Darrell Issa, the committee’s ranking Republicam from California, said in a statemenyt Thursday morning.
“The Federal Reservs also engaged ina cover-up and deliberately hid concernse and pertinent details regarding the merger from othefr federal regulatory agencies.” Two weekss ago, Lewis testified to the same committee. He told lawmakers he considerec backing out ofthe deal, but felt pressurse from Bernanke and then-Treasury Secretary Paulso n to move forward for the benefit of both companiezs and the economy. Paulson is expected to testify on the matted at afuture date. Charlotte-based BofA bought Merrill on Jan. 1 for $29.q1 billion. The deal resulted in BofA’s receivinfg an additional $20 billion in federal fundsx under the Troubled AssetRelief Program.
BofA, Maryland'z largest bank, has received a total of $45 billion in TARP funds. Lewis has been undere intense pressure from BofA shareholders for not disclosintg the depthof Merrill’s financial difficulties befors the merger. Merrill lost $15.3 billion in the fourthy quarter. Click to see Bernanke'sa written testimony.