Thirdly, was John Thain, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch the "fall guy" for his part over the outrageous bonuses paid to Merrill employees in 2008? On Monday, Federal District Judge Jed S. Rakoff rejected a proposed $33 million settlement of allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission that Bank of America "materially lied" in shareholder communications about $5.8 billion in bonuses paid to employees of Merrill Lynch. Lewis testified under oath to New York state's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, that government regulators encouraged him to keep silent both about Merrill's $15 billion fourth-quarter loss and its bonus payout.