Southern District of New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff “reluctantly” gave his conditional approval Monday morning to a $150 million agreement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of America Corp. to settle allegations that the bank failed to make required disclosures in connection with its 2008 takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co.
In a 15-page ruling, the judge called the settlement “far from ideal” because it will effectively “transfer $150 million from all shareholders to those current shareholders who were victimized by the non-disclosures.”
