Glad to Hear It

From the New York Times:

A New York state judge ruled Wednesday afternoon that New York’s attorney general could disclose the names of executives at Merrill Lynch who received 2008 bonuses ahead of Bank of America’s acquisition of the brokerage firm, rejecting arguments that the information was a trade secret.

“The record does not support the intervenors’ claim that the employee compensation information is a trade secret,” Justice Bernard J. Fried of New York State Supreme Court wrote, referring to Merrill and Bank of America. He ordered them to turn over the list of names.

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has been demanding the names of Merrill’s 200 most highly paid employees as part of his investigation of the firm’s acquisition. The names could be released as early as Thursday.

I covered this earlier this month.