No one looks good in the wake of the bombshell news that Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis fingered Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson for his decision to not publicly disclose much about the declining state of Merrill Lynch. Lewis once again looks like a guy who can't stand up and lead, putty in the hands of others.

TheStreet.com says "following orders is no excuse for doing the wrong thing." Paulson and Bernanke look bad for urging secrecy. The losers of course are shareholders. It's unclear how all this will play out in the short-term. More transcripts of Andrew Cuomo's deposition will likely be made public soon, which may add some color to the controversy. For Lewis, this is yet another headache to deal with as the annual meeting next week approaches. We'll see if this comes back to haunt him. 

For more:
- here's the article

Related Articles:
Bank of America beats consensus, is it enough?
SEC to rule on Bank of America-Merrill Lynch bonus-gate
Shareholders to wage war on Bank of America board?
Bank of America's role in Merrill's big Q4 loss
Did Merrill Lynch mislead Congress?