In a Tuesday letter, the office of the New York State Attorney General (NY AG) Andrew Cuomo has sought details from Bank of America pertaining to its inadequate disclosure of information to shareholders, prior to its January 1 acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

Though Bank of America reiterated that it had "cooperated extensively" with Cuomo's office, the letter - written by David Markowitz, the head of Cuomo's Investor Protection Bureau, to an outside lawyer for the bank - said that investigations by Cuomo's office reveal at least four instances wherein the bank did not disclose 'non-material' information to the shareholders.

Demanding the requisite details by Monday, Cuomo's office maintained that the bank had failed to inform the shareholders about the potential losses, write-downs, and the stepping up of bonus payments to Merrill Lynch employees.

It has also been alleged that the bank did not reveal to the shareholders, before their December approval of the Merrill deal, the fact that senior executives were even thinking of backing out of the Merrill purchase!

The attorney general's office, which is investigating Bank of America's actions in the walkup to its Merrill takeover, clearly specified in the letter that it needs the details to make "fair and fully informed decisions as to what charges, if any, to bring and whether individual Bank of America officers should be charged."