ken lewis testified that no one in the government did anything improper doing this transaction.a to go through with the deal, they are turning a blind eye to the facts we have before us. over the course of this eight month investigation, the committee has held five hearings, received extensive testimony from top executives at bank of america, and senior government officials conducted numerous interviews issued -- and issued two subpoenas for federal records and reviewed nearly half a million documents. public scrutiny and oversight by this committee has produced tangible results. two days ago, bank of america paid back its entire $45 billion loan plus interest. under pressure from the committee, bank of america agreed in september to pay $425 million to the treasury department in compensation for toxic accident insurance the bank received but never paid for. somour investigatorinvestigatiod in the taxpayer receiving $475 billion. every member of this committee should be proud of our efforts and i take the time to salute you for your hard work that has been great to get to this p

only 12 days later ken lewis, ceo of bank of america, made a call to then secretary of treasury hankaulson initiating a process that led to addses 20 billion bailout of the merge are and a promise of government insurance for losses up to $118 billion. the chronology of events strained belief. was it true that the financial situation at merrill lynch shifted so dramatically in that short amount of time as ken lewis said? or did top management know or should they have known about the deteriorating situation at merrill lynch much earlier? did they fail to make necessary disclosures to shareholders? bank of america would be in legal jeopardy if it failed to disclose information to shareholders about large losses at merrill lynch known or knowable before the shareholder vote bp the subcommittee investigation found evidence of possible security laws violations at bank of america. bank of america unreasonably and negligently relied on internal fourth quarter '08 forecast created by merrill lynch that omitted any forecast of how the cdo, cds and other toxic assets would perform during the qu

now when i asked ken lewis about this at our first hearing, he told us he relied on advice of counselers is often in the final instance the responsibility of corporate general counsels and theirout side counsel. the subcommittee's investigative findings demand the question where were the lawyers? the glaring omissions and inaccurate financial data in the critical november 12th forecast, so obvious that they should have alerted the attorneys to the necessity of a reasonable investigation before making a decision on bank of america's legal duties to disclose. the apparent fact they did not mount such an investigation makes the decision not to disclose merrill's losses to shareholders an egregious violation of securities laws. mr. khuzami, in march, gao issued a scathing report on the effect of christopher cox's leadership of the s.e.c. in reducing corporate penalties and formal investigations at exactly the time that the cdos and cdss were proliferating to chairman shapiro's credit, she rescinded a cox policy and appointed you to reinvigorate the enforcement division. i am concerned tha

now when i asked ken lewis about this at our first hearing, he told us he relied on advice of counsel. protecting shareholders is often in the final instance the responsibility of corporate general counsels and theirout general counsels and theirout side counsel. the subcommittee's investigative findings demand the question where were the lawyers? the glaring omissions and inaccurate financial data in the critical november 12th forecast, so obvious that they should have alerted the attorneys to the necessity of a reasonable investigation before making a decision on bank of america's legal duties to disclose. the apparent fact they did not mount such an investigation makes the decision not to disclose merrill's losses to shareholders an egregious violation of securities laws. mr. khuzami, in march, gao issued a scathing report on the effect of christopher cox's leadership of the s.e.c. in reducing corporate penalties and formal investigations at exactly the time that the cdos and cdss were proliferating to chairman shapiro's credit, she rescinded a cox policy and appointed you to reinv