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 Bank of America Corp.'s (NYSE:BAC) CEO Ken Lewis steps down on Dec. 31, but that might not be fast enough to outrun the various parties hoping to take Lewis down over the Merrill Lynch & Co. purchase. With that in mind, BofA's board of directors is reportedly close to settling on an "emergency CEO pick in case legal turmoil forces" Lewis to step down even sooner, a source told The Wall Street Journal this weekend. The driving force behind the concern is New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is reportedly considering civil securities fraud charges against Lewis and other members of BofA's management team for failing to disclose $16 billion in losses at Merrill Lynch, which were reported only weeks after the shareholder vote on acquiring the investment bank. Bank of America shareholders were outraged to find out about the unexpectedly large fourth-quarter losses at Merrill as well as $3.6 billion in early bonus money it paid to employees just before the deal closed. The search for someone to step right in as CEO began before Lewis announced his retirement plans last week, and it was further accelerated when the bank's settlement with the SEC over early bonuses paid out by Merrill was rejected by the presiding judge, the report said. According to the WSJ: The process is being led by a five-person board committee formed earlier this year to respond to concerns raised by U.S. banking regulators, this person said. Led by Bank of America Chairman Walter Massey, the committee plans to submit its choice to the full board for approval. Regulators will be asked to sign off on the choice, according to the person familiar with the matter, and then the plan will be shelved until needed. Meanwhile the search for a permanent replacement CEO should begin in earnest this week. (See a list of top candidates here.) Bank of America's board is expected to have a short list that it will run by the government by the end of October. - George White Also see Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Dealwatch BofA's Ken Lewis: A look back at his career Bank of America enemies list
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