Word: thain
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...survey of just a few of the financial industry’s titans yields nothing but front-page scandals—from Bernard Madoff, the mysterious asset manager “extraordinaire” who was revealed to be the mastermind behind a wealth-draining Ponzi scheme, to John Thain, the former Merrill Lynch CEO who spent a reported $1.2 million redecorating his office suite (complete with a $35,000 commode) at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer while his company posted incredible losses...
While the battle between Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis and former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain goes on over who knew about large bonuses and large losses and when they knew it, recent news that the bank will get $20 billion from the federal government along with $108 billion in loss guarantees has almost been forgotten. Much of the paper being supported by the government came from the Merrill acquisition...
...Merrill losses, which weren't publicly revealed until early January, have angered shareholders, some of whom have sued the company for not informing them sooner. And last week, the losses also led Lewis to ask Merrill's top executive, John Thain, to resign for failing to keep BofA officials apprised of his firm's bottom-line problems. Thain says Lewis knew all along. (See pictures of TIME's Wall Street covers...
Then there's Vail. Having known about the big upcoming losses, Thain nevertheless went ahead with a previously planned vacation to the Colorado ski resort, where he has a place. You really can't blame the guy - conditions were awesome! Vail and the rest of Colorado got absolutely hammered with snow in December. And if you've ever been in the back bowls at Vail in a foot of fresh powder, you can understand Thain's thinking: Let's see, I can ski in perfect conditions in one of the most beautiful places in America or I can stay...
...course, there's always a chance that what is going on here is very different than it appears. Perhaps things weren't that bad when Thain decided to take off to Vail, and then Lewis got ahold of Merrill's books and decided to make them look worse than they actually were. Too dastardly, you say? Maybe, but Lewis could use the illusion of a bigger loss to get money from the government and at the same time get rid of Thain. What's more, if Lewis hangs on, the latest loss makes 2009 earnings look better than they otherwise...