Bid Denied To Keep Merrill Bonus Data Confidential

In an order Wednesday, New York State Supreme Court Justice Bernard J. Fried in Manhattan denied a motion by Bank of America for a protective order modifying a subpoena by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to include a confidentiality provision, and denied a motion to separately intervene and put a similar confidentiality restriction on testimony by John A. Thain, Merrill Lynch's former chief executive.

The bank had asked the judge to prevent Cuomo from publicly releasing the names of individuals who received bonuses and how much they made.

In his ruling, the judge found Bank of America didn't make efforts to keep compensation data confidential, other than to encourage employees not to discuss pay in the workplace. There's also no evidence the bank took measures to prevent employees from sharing compensation information with third parties, the judge said.