Tim Mayopoulos, who was abruptly fired as general counsel under odd circumstances by Bank of America (BAC Bank of America news), is now gainfully employed by Fannie Mae. So he may not want to say anything that would fuel the controversy already surrounding him. But he may want to clear the air because there's a whole lot of uncertainty about what he did at Bank of America to merit such crappy treatment.

It's clear that he was blindsided by Ken Lewis's decision to fire him. Lewis of course says he wanted to give the general counsel spot to Brian Moynihan. But most companies would have found a graceful way to ease Mayopoulos out. It seems a bit odd that he was treated so shabbily. Some have concluded that Mayopoulos must have offered up some unwanted advice about disclosing Merrill Lynch losses before the shareholder vote (disclosure news).

Andrew Cuomo asserts boldly in his complaint: "On November 13, when Price knew of at least approximately $5 billion in aftertax losses, Bank of America's General Counsel, Timothy Mayopoulos, and lawyers from its outside law firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, determined the Bank should disclose the losses. The lawyers discussed the date of the disclosure, the manner of the disclosure, who would draft the disclosure, and that Price would approach Merrill CEO John Thain about the disclosure. Shortly thereafter, however, the decision was reversed, Wachtell's role was marginalized, and the Bank made its own decision not to disclose."

It's unclear if Mayopoulos has ever testifed in such definitive terms. However, he has said, "I recall telling the Wachtell lawyers that I thought we needed to give serious consideration to possible disclosure." He also said, "I recall that there was some discussion about potential types of disclosure that could be made, but I don't recall anybody reaching a conclusion that there needed to be disclosure." We'll see how Judge Jed Rakoff reacts to all this. 

For more:
- here's a Law.com article

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