From yesterday's National Post:

Merrill Lynch “secretly” accelerated bonus payments last year and gave at least US$1million to each of nearly 700 employees, even as the brokerage was amassing billions of dollars in losses, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a letter to U.S. Representative Barney Frank.

“It appears that instead of disclosing their bonus plans in a transparent way as requested by my office, Merrill Lynch secretly moved up the planned date to allocate bonuses and then richly rewarded their failed executives,” Mr. Cuomo wrote.

The top four Merrill recipients received a combined US$121-million; the next four received a combined US$62million; and the next six received a combined US$66-million, according to Mr. Cuomo.

At Merrill, 696 employees each received at least US$1-million, and the top 149 executives received a total of US$858-million, he wrote.

Small wonder that Main Street has no respect for Wall Street - my opinion.