U.S. lawmakers seek BofA-Merrill probe

By Kim Dixon and Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Momentum is building among U.S. lawmakers to investigate Bank of America's (BAC.N) purchase of Merrill Lynch, amid allegations that federal officials gave the bank's chief executive an ultimatum to complete the deal with the troubled investment house.

A senior Republican Senator joined House Democrats on Friday in seeking more details after New York's attorney general said CEO Kenneth Lewis had testified he was pressured by former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to do the merger, or lose his job.

"That was very disturbing," Senator Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, told the Reuters Global Financial Regulation Summit in Washington on Friday.

"I don't know if there is securities fraud in there or what," said Shelby, from Alabama.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in the House of Representatives expanded their probe by demanding all internal communications from the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department touching on the deal.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday that Lewis testified that Paulson and Bernanke also pressured him to keep quiet about losses at the troubled Merrill Lynch, which rose to $12 billion from $9 billion in a matter of days.

This account has been disputed by representatives for Bernanke and Paulson but raises questions about whether federal officials encouraged Lewis to keep important information from investors.

Bank of America ultimately got additional federal bailout money to absorb Merrill.