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...There are other apparent inconsistencies with Lewis' claim that Bank of America had little part in determining Merrill's bonuses. For example, in mid-December Bank of America senior vice president Randall Morrow sent a letter to Merrill's general counsel saying that it was the bank's understanding that the bonuses had been reduced to $3.57 billion. What's more, a former senior Merrill Lynch executive told TIME.com, before the bonuses were actually distributed in late-December a member of Bank of America's human-relations department "went over, line by line" the bonuses that were to be paid...
...surprise fourth quarter losses at Merrill, there are also some indications that Bank of America officials were kept in the loop. A chain of e-mails reviewed by TIME.com shows that Merrill employees were giving Bank of America executives regular updates about the deteriorating profits at the investment bank. In a response to a Dec. 3 e-mail detailing nearly $1 billion in additional Merrill trading losses, Neil Cotty, B of A's chief accounting officer, responded, "BTW ... thank you for this ... they did ask ..." Importantly, none of the e-mails say the information on Merrill's losses was needed...
...wrong. But when CEOs make statements that are deemed to mislead shareholders about the state of their business, that's a securities-law violation and can be considered a criminal offense. If it is determined that Lewis made statements himself or was responsible for directing the bank to make statements that misled shareholders, he could be facing fines or worse. (See 10 ways your job will change...
...case against Bank of America - the one that was settled, but could now be revived - involves lying on a proxy statement. The good news for Lewis is that proxy fraud generally has lower penalties than regular securities fraud. The bad news is that the bar for proving that one lied on a proxy statement is much lower than for general securities fraud. In proxy fraud, the prosecution just has to prove that Lewis was negligent in not including certain information. The SEC does not have to prove, as is the case in regular securities fraud, that Lewis orchestrated a scheme...
...only allowed to bring civil cases. So even if Lewis is found liable on proxy statements, there is no possibility of jail time. The SEC can bar individuals from being officers of public companies, which would put an end to Lewis' Bank of America career, but legal experts say a ban in a proxy case would be unusual. The size of any fine would be determined by how important the information withheld was deemed to be. Still, even a relatively minor misstatement or omission can lead to a finding of liability...