Bank of America deal had White House support
Correction: The headline on an Oct. 20 A-section article about possible support in the Obama administration for a deal last year to protect Bank of America from losses incurred by its purchase of Merrill Lynch said "Bank of America deal had White House support" without citing the source of that assertion. It should have attributed the information to internal Bank of America documents. (Published 10/21/2009)</br></br>Top economic advisers to President Obama signed off on a deal to protect Bank of America from losses incurred by its purchase of failed Wall Street firm Merrill Lynch a month before the new administration took office, according to Bank of America documents.</br></br>The documents, describing internal discussions at the bank in late 2008, assert that executives were told that incoming National Economic Council Director Lawrence H. Summers and incoming Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner had endorsed the deal to provide new guarantees to Bank of America.</br></br>The acquisition has been a source of protracted debate since earlier this year, when questions arose about whether federal officials exerted an inappropriate amount of pressure on Bank of America to complete the deal. There's also been debate about whether the bank made appropriate disclosures to its shareholders about losses at Merrill Lynch, its negotiations with the government for additional support and compensation plans at Merrill Lynch.</br></br>These issues have been the subject of investigations by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the Securities and Exchange Commission and New York's attorney general.