edolphus towns

Bush administration officials have been under fire for effectively forcing a merger last December between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch without informing BoA shareholders of the financial dire straights Merrill was in at the time.
But yesterday the Obama administration was pulled more deeply into the scandal as well, after newly unveiled BoA documents suggested [...]

He was practically a fixture on Capitol Hill during the Wall Street bailout debate and subsequent oversight discussions. But Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, is set to retire at the end of the year.
Lewis and BoA have been in hot water over their government-backed deal to acquire the failing Merrill Lynch in December. [...]

Just a few days after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before House lawmakers about his role in Bank of America’s controversial buyout of Merrill Lynch, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) announced that former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will be the next official to take the hot seat.
Bank of America purchased [...]

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is testifying this morning before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about his role in catalyzing Bank of America’s controversial December buyout of Merrill Lynch.
The saga made headlines this spring when former BoA CEO Ken Lewis told New York’s attorney general that he was reluctant to go through with [...]

On Thursday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is hosting former Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis at a hearing to explore the genesis of Bank of America’s December purchase of the flailing Merrill Lynch. In anticipation of that gathering, Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), along with Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who heads the [...]

Just a few weeks after Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) requested information from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner about White House plans to sidestep executive pay limits for bailed out firms (information that still hasn’t been provided), Towns is asking Geithner about his role in Bank of America’s reportedly shady acquisition of Merrill Lynch in December.
Yesterday, the [...]

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, appearing today before the congressional bailout oversight panel, repeatedly emphasized the importance of transparency to the success of the rescue plan.
“In a crisis, transparency, accountability and a coherent plan with clear goals are essential to maintain the confidence of the public and capital markets,” he told the panel.
Funny, then, that Geithner [...]

It’s April 16, and in Washington this year that signifies something more than a Tea Party hangover. It’s also the date by which Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was asked to respond to congressional questions about the administration’s plans to skirt congressional conditions on Wall Street bailout recipients.

From the letter delivered to the Treasury secretary Monday from the office of Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in the wake of the news that Treasury intends to create middlemen to skirt some rules for bailout recipients:
1. Is it your position that the executive compensation limits and [...]

Here’s a saga worthy of much more attention than it’s getting: A House oversight panel launched an investigation Monday into the Treasury Department’s plans to elude Congress-passed executive pay limits on bailout recipients by creating middleman agencies to filter the funds.