Cay: Bank of America knew

Parmalat's government-appointed administrator has accused Bank of America of knowing about the dairy group's financial distress before its crisis was made public and of using that information to position itself ahead of other creditors, Reuters reports.

In a seven-page letter sent to prosecutors in February and obtained by Reuters last week, administrator Enrico Bondi also accused the bank of "systematically" blocking access to relevant accounts and to documents on "seriously suspect" operations.

Parmalat stunned financial markets in December when it revealed a massive accounting hole and slid into insolvency.

Bank of America, which has consistently denied it knew of Parmalat's accounting hole before the news was made public, denied any wrongdoing last week.

"The transactions in question were legitimate in their business purpose and were in compliance with legal requirements," spokeswoman Betsy Weinberger said in a statement.