WASHINGTON AP – A judge on Tuesday ordered federal regulators to explain why they didn’t investigate whether executives at Bank of America Corp. misled shareholders about bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan has delayed approving the bank’s proposed $33 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the bonus affair, which arose after Bank of America agreed to buy Merrill for $50 billion in a hastily arranged deal last September.