One of Bank of America’s (NYSE: BAC) leading candidates to become the company’s next CEO has become embroiled into an investigation relating to Bank of America’s takeover of Merril Lynch last year.
New York’s attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, has contacted several of Bank of America’s lawysers during the last two weeks with concerns about testimony made by the company’s chief risk officer, Greg Curl.
The issues emerged as the bank’s board of directors began a two-day meeting in Charlotte, NC, with the goal of appointing a new chief executive officer before Kenneth Lewis retires at the end of the year. The bank has been conflicted about whether or not to name an internal candidate, such as Mr. Curl, or to bring in an outsider that hasn’t been tarnished by the Merrill Lynch deal.
Cuomo’s staff began questioning Curl about the disclosures in the spring as the New York attorney general began his investigation. Bank of America said that it had relied on the advice of its attorneys and Curl testified about a phone conversation he had with a lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz on December 3rd about the disclosure of Merrill’s losses, according to several sources.
The bank has declined to discuss any conversations that the bank has had with Wachtell, citing privacy issues. Bank of America later waived those privileges. When Cuomo’s staff looked into the alleged phone calls, there was no log providing that the phone call cited by Mr. Curl had actually taken place, according to a person familiar with the matter. Curl had returned to Cuomo’s office in November and said that he no longer remembered the call.
A spokesperson for Bank of America, Lawrence DiRita, said that “Mr. Curl provided his testimony on two occasions, several months apart, to the best of his recollections of events that had occurred as much as one year earlier. We are confident in the consistency and truthfulness of the Bank of America testimony.”
