New York's attorney general charges Bank of America, ex-CEO with fraud; SEC settles

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission separately said Bank of America agreed to pay a $150 million civil fine and bolster disclosure and governance practices to settle its two lawsuits alleging poor disclosure of Merrill's losses and $3.6 billion of bonus payouts. That accord requires court approval.

Thursday's civil lawsuit by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo could complicate efforts by new Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan to revive the largest U.S. bank.

Moynihan replaced Lewis, who retired under pressure at the end of 2009 after four decades at the bank.

Lewis, 62, joins Countrywide Financial Corp's Angelo Mozilo among major U.S. financial services chief executives to face civil regulatory fraud charges over conduct since a global credit crisis began in the middle of 2007.

Separately, Senator Carl Levin criticized Bank of America for failing to scrutinize questionable accounts by a notorious arms dealer and flag them for possible money laundering.

Cuomo, invoking a powerful state law used to combat securities fraud, accused Bank of America, Lewis and Price of intentionally failing to disclose massive losses at Merrill prior to a December 5, 2008 shareholder vote on the merger.