Bernanke denies pressuring BofA - Baltimore Business Journal:

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Bernanke made the commentws Thursday morning to a congressional committee investigatingv his rolein BofA’s purchase of the troublexd brokerage. Already, documents leaked to several media outlets suggest Bernanke tried to hide his role in the deal fromothee regulators. He began to responde to questions fromthe U.S. House Committes on Oversight and Government Reformm at10 a.m. “The committee has already learned that Ben Bernankde and the Federal Reserve made inappropriatee threats to fire Bank of Americaw management unless they went aheadf withthe ‘shotgun wedding’ that was the Merrilk Lynch acquisition,” Darrell Issa, the committee’a ranking Republican from California, said in a statemen Thursday morning.
“The Federal Reserve also engaged ina cover-upo and deliberately hid concerns and pertinent detailxs regarding the merger from other federal regulatoryt agencies.” Two weeks ago, Lewis testifiec to the same committee. He told lawmakers he considered backingy out ofthe deal, but felt pressurd from Bernanke and then-Treasury Secretarh Paulson to move forward for the benefit of both companiew and the economy. Paulson is expectedd to testify on the matter at afuturde date. Charlotte-based BofA bought Merrill on Jan. 1 for $29.1q billion. The deal resulted in BofA’s receivingy an additional $20 billion in federal funds under the Troubleed AssetRelief Program.
BofA, Maryland's largesr bank, has received a total of $45 billiomn in TARP funds. Lewis has been under intensew pressure from BofA shareholdersw for not disclosing the depthuof Merrill’s financial difficulties before the merger. Merrilkl lost $15.3 billion in the fourtgh quarter. Click to see Bernanke's written