Federal Reserve staff wanted to extract a pound of flesh from Bank of America for the Merrill Lynch acquisition.

So, think all Congressional hearings are sleepy, boring things? Get ready for the House Oversight Committee Hearing tomorrow!

In preparation for tomorrow's testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke on the shot gun marriage between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch , we have this released memo:

Fed accused of 'cover-up' in BofA deal:

Lawmakers claim to have uncovered evidence that the Federal Reserve tried to hide from other financial regulators its involvement in Bank of America's (BoA) takeover of Merrill Lynch.

Darrell Issa, the senior Republican on the committee, told Reuters: "The committee has already learned that Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve made inappropriate threats to fire Bank of America management unless they went ahead with the shotgun wedding that was the Merrill Lynch acquisition."

Sources told Reuters that the Fed withheld information on its dealings with BoA from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Oh yeah, it's a great idea to give the Federal Reserve more power over the United States financial system (sic).

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is now going before Congress next month.