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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, October 14, 2009

BUSINESS BRIEFS
BofA will surrender Merrill Lynch papers

Advertiser Staff and News Services

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bank of America Corp., giving up a monthslong fight with regulators, plans to turn over documents revealing legal advice it received on its purchase of Merrill Lynch.

In a turnabout, the bank will waive attorney-client privilege that kept it from telling regulators about recommendations it received from outside attorneys over whether to disclose details to shareholders about Merrill's mounting troubles.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America has agreed to waive its attorney-client privilege for investigations by the New York attorney general's office, the Securities and Exchange Commission and a congressional committee, a person familiar with the bank's agreement said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the information wasn't publicly disclosed.

WHITE HOUSE ASKS AIG TO CUT BONUSES

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration's pay czar has asked American International Group to withhold some of the millions in bonuses promised to its employees.

Kenneth Feinberg, the special master for executive compensation, "has informally advised AIG not to pay the full $198 million" employees expect to receive, according to a report Tuesday from the special inspector general overseeing the $700 billion financial bailout.

Feinberg is locked in negotiations with the seven companies that received the most expensive taxpayer bailouts. AIG's was by far the largest. The government committed more than $180 billion to wind down the New York-based insurance and financial services conglomerate.

BLOOMBERG WILL BUY BUSINESSWEEK

NEW YORK — Bloom-berg LP is buying BusinessWeek magazine in a deal that brings together a financial news service specializing in rapid-fire updates with a print publication struggling to adapt to the Internet's information whirlwind.

Terms were not disclosed.

The sale announced yesterday is expected to close by the end of the year. It would end BusinessWeek's 80-year run as part of McGraw-Hill Cos., which also owns the Standard & Poor's credit rating agency.

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR SKILLING APPEAL

NEW YORK — Disgraced Enron chief Jeffrey Skilling, who rose to infamy in one of the biggest corporate scandals in U.S. history while maintaining his innocence, has won his day before the Supreme Court after battling through the appeals process in the face of a 24-year sentence.

The high court will take up Skilling's argument that he deserves a new trial under his interpretation of a federal law that requires prosecutors to show that suspects acted in their own interests, rather than those of the company.