Cuomo Raises Pressure on Merrill

With Wachovia locked in to buying back $9 billion in auction-rate securities from clients, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has his sights set next on finance titans Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg reports. Cuomo says Merrill faces an "imminent" lawsuit after offering to buy back $10 billion of the bonds, which he says is an unsatisfactory amount. The companies are accused of misleading investors.

"There are dozens of firms who've been involved in this area,'' Cuomo said. "We're starting at the top…the larger the firm, the larger the portfolio, the more intense our effort."
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