Refusing to accept the $33 million settlement case between Bank of America (BofA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, Jed Rakoff, a federal judge in New York, said at the latest hearing that he needed more information before he can give his approval to the proposed settlement.

With regard to the allegations that BofA had misled investors in a proxy statements pertaining to executive bonuses, the US District Judge Rakoff has set an August 24 deadline for the SEC and BofA to put forward the detailed statements about the case. 

Saying that he was looking for “the truth, not the spin,” Rakoff said at the Monday hearing: “I cannot ignore issues of responsibility. I am concerned that we have not yet ferreted out all that the court needs to know.”

In an elaborate question-answer session, Rakoff wanted to know who at the BofA management was responsible for the misleading statement sent to investors last November, saying the senior Merrill Lynch executives would not be handed out bonuses without BofA’s consent, after its acquisition of Merrill.

Rakoff said that the SEC’s filing can be termed as “a fairly uninformative, bare bones complaint” till the time the SEC officials fail to specify who, at BofA, had actually approved the $5.8 billion year-end bonuses for Merrill employees.