In its continuing battle to win court approval of a settlement with the Bank of America, the Securities and Exchange Commission insisted Wednesday that the bank’s former general counsel, Timothy Mayopoulos, did not lose his job because he gave unwelcome advice about the bank’s takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co.
Instead, the agency, in a “supplemental statement of facts” filed Wednesday, cited bank sources to the effect that “ Mayopoulos was terminated for reasons having no connection to his legal advice or any other aspect of his job performance. Rather, Mayopoulos was terminated in an attempt by Lewis to avert the imminent departure of the Bank’s then-head of global corporate and investment banking, Brian Moynihan.”
