WASHINGTON AP – Bank of America fired its top lawyer in December 2008 before its fateful takeover of Merrill Lynch simply to make way for another executive, and not because he had given the company legal advice it didn’t want to hear, the Securities and Exchange Commission has said in a court filing.

The SEC’s version of the reasons behind the abrupt termination of then-general counsel Timothy Mayopoulos is at odds with allegations by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.