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Charles Gifford |
Bank of America directors head to D.C.
2 with ties to Boston to testify in Capitol
Two Bank of America board members with ties to Massachusetts have been summoned to Washington to testify before a congressional committee next week about the bank’s acquisition of troubled investment bank Merrill Lynch.
Boston banker Charles “Chad’’ Gifford, the former chief executive of FleetBoston Financial who sold that institution to Bank of America, and NStar chief executive Thomas May have agreed to appear at a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing Thursday, according to Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican and the ranking minority member of the committee.
Other expected witnesses include former Bank of America general counsel Timothy Mayopoulos, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairwoman Sheila Bair, Securities and Exchange Commission chairwoman Mary Schapiro, and Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Bardella said. Bloomberg News first reported the development.
But Jenny Thalheimer Rosenberg, a committee spokeswoman, said the Democrats who control the committee have “not officially announced the witness list.’’ “Until that point, any report would be speculation,’’ she said.
Bank officials could not be reached late yesterday.
The hearing comes just days after the committee obtained e-mails showing Gifford and May bantering back and forth during a conference call of board members over the bank’s pending decision to cut its dividend to one cent.
“Screw you,’’ May told Gifford in one message. “Unfortunately, it’s screw the shareholders!!’’ Gifford replied. “No Trail’’ May replied, apparently reminding Gifford to be careful of leaving an e-mail trail. “Only stated in the context of a horrible economy!!! Will effect everyone,’’ Gifford replied.
Bank of America is facing multiple investigations over whether it hid crucial information from shareholders just before they were asked to approve the Merrill acquisition. The SEC has sued the bank, saying it failed to tell shareholders that it gave Merrill permission to dole out $5.8 billion in bonuses before shareholders approved the merger.
And New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office has been investigating that issue and whether Bank of America failed to fully warn shareholders about Merrill’s widening losses.
Todd Wallack can be reached at twallack@globe.com. 
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