Cuomo also rejected the attempt by Bank of America Corp , which bought Merrill on January 1, to avoid disclosing the names of and amounts paid to bonus recipients, after the bank's Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis testified that he had never in 40 years of banking demanded confidentiality of such information.

The allegations were made in filings with the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, two days before Justice Bernard Fried is expected to hold a hearing on whether Bank of America can keep the bonus data confidential.

Cuomo is examining whether the bonuses violated securities laws, and whether Bank of America should have disclosed more about Merrill's condition sooner.

Bank of America on January 16 got a federal bailout that included $20 billion of capital from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and a government agreement to share losses on $118 billion of assets, mostly from Merrill. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank has taken $45 billion overall from TARP.

Bank of America has said it would suffer "grave harm" by revealing bonus data, citing concerns about competitors poaching staff and privacy. It was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)