Will judge ever approve Bank of America, SEC settlement?

It looks like top banks are heeding the words of Shakespeare when it comes to the on-going bonus controversy: Blame the lawyers. Recall that federal district judge Jed Rakoff has so far refused to approve a settlement between the SEC and Bank of America over the Merrill Lynch bonus near-scandal.

He wanted more information and this is what he got: The SEC holds that the bank "relied on its outside lawyers to fill in the fine print in that firm's controversial marriage with Bank of America. That meant that lawyers at two firms--Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz as well as Shearman & Sterling--handled a decision to keep Merrill's $3.6 billion in bonus payouts a secret from Bank of America's shareholders," according to the New York Times. Judge Rakoff seems pretty worked up over this issue. It remains to be seen whether it will hold water with him. He may reject the deal again. 

For more:
- here's the New York Times article

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