Want more proof of some Wall Street titans’ greed and lack of responsibility during the financial meltdown? Check out this story detailing the decorating habits of former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, who resigned from Bank of America today. Merrill Lynch agreed to be sold to Bank of America at the end of last year in the wake of the financial sector crisis.
The Daily Beast reported that Thain spent a total of $1.22 million in company money to trick out his office with, among other things, an $87,000 area rug and a $35,000 “commode on legs.” In another greedy instance, Merrill Lynch accelerated bonus payments just before the closing of its sale to Bank of America, according to the Financial Times. Bank of America is set to receive $20 billion in TARP money, according to the FT. That’s a lot of area rugs.
Tags: Bank of America, greed, John Thain, Merrill Lynch
[...] interior designer and former CEO of Merrill Lynch John Thain will reimburse Bank of America for his $1.2 million office renovation, paid for with company money. In a memo to Merrill employees, Thain also defended reports of [...]
[...] it could not get any worse, then we here how John Thain, well into the current financial collapse worked to pass out bonuses to Merrill executives before it got swallowed up by Bank of America and spent a cool million [...]
[...] with cashing those obscene bonus checks, firing up their private jets, or maybe doing a little interior decorating on the company’s [...]
[...] Merrill Lynch stories (the insane executive bonuses, Former CEO John Thain’s extravagant decorating bonanza), the bailout becomes a bigger folly every day. Or maybe a bigger [...]