Merrill Lynch trips to Ritz Carlton Orlando under federal scrutiny

[babylonsister]

Merrill Lynch trips to Ritz Carlton Orlando under federal scrutiny

Richard Burnett | Sentinel Staff Writer
March 10, 2009


The federal government is looking into whether Merrill Lynch & Co. ran afoul of the law when it sent employees on expensive trips to the Ritz Carlton Orlando even as it was angling for billions of dollars in bailout money.

Details about employee stays at the luxury resort have caught the attention of a Treasury Department watchdog office that determines whether companies receiving federal bailout money have complied with the law's restrictions on compensation, bonuses and perks.

The office confirmed Monday that it has received reports about Merrill's Orlando events from an unspecified number of sources, including an article last month in the Orlando Sentinel.

A local resident who complained to the office about the events told the Sentinel an investigator has followed up several times seeking more information. The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, called an agency hotline.

"If there is an indication that a violation of the law has occurred, we will pursue this aggressively," said a spokeswoman for the agency, called the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The spokeswoman would not comment further on the case.

more...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-biz-merrill-lynch-trips-to-ritz-031009,0,3387403.story

[midnight]

1. Didn't the Banksters say they were going to return the money,

because they didn't like having to answer to all the regulations?

[babylonsister]

2. 3 banks did, but ML is not mentioned...

http://www.propublica.org/article/third-bank-says-it-will-return-bailout-funds-but-487-banks-keep-theirs-311