Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will testify next month before a House committee that’s investigating whether he and other government officials pressured Bank of America Corp. to acquire Merrill Lynch in a deal that cost taxpayers $20 billion.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has scheduled the hearing for July 16, and a spokeswoman for Paulson confirmed yesterday he will attend.
The government is exploring allegations that Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke threatened to oust Bank of America’s CEO Kenneth Lewis and the bank’s board members if they abandoned the takeover after discovering losses at Merrill.
The House committee is also investigating whether Bernanke and Paulson urged Bank of America to keep quiet about Merrill’s losses.
Bernanke, who testified before the same panel last week, denied all the accusations. Paulson is also on the record as denying them.