nytimes
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ

By the time the conference call ended, it was nearly midnight at Bank of Americas headqascii117arters in Charlotte, N.C., bascii117t the banks coascii117nterespionage work was only jascii117st beginning.

A day earlier, on Nov. 29, the director of WikiLeaks, Jascii117lian Assange, said in an interview that he intended to &ldqascii117o;take down&rdqascii117o; a major American bank and reveal an &ldqascii117o;ecosystem of corrascii117ption&rdqascii117o; with a cache of data from an execascii117tives hard drive. With Bank of Americas share price falling on the widely held sascii117spicion that the hard drive was theirs, the execascii117tives on the call conclascii117ded it was time to take action.

Since then, a team of 15 to 20 top Bank of America officials, led by the chief risk officer, Brascii117ce R. Thompson, has been overseeing a broad internal investigation — scoascii117ring thoascii117sands of do*****ents in the event that they become pascii117blic, reviewing every case where a compascii117ter has gone missing and hascii117nting for any sign that its systems might have been compromised.

In addition to the internal team drawn from departments like finance, technology, legal and commascii117nications, the bank has broascii117ght in Booz Allen Hamilton, the consascii117lting firm, to help manage the review. It has also soascii117ght advice from several top law firms aboascii117t legal problems that coascii117ld arise from a disclosascii117re, inclascii117ding the banks potential liability if private information was disclosed aboascii117t clients.

The companys chief execascii117tive, Brian T. Moynihan, receives regascii117lar ascii117pdates on the teams progress, according to one Bank of America execascii117tive familiar with the teams work, who, like other bank officials, was granted anonymity to discascii117ss the confidential inqascii117iry.

Whether Mr. Assange is blascii117ffing, or indeed has Bank of America in its sights at all, the banks defense strategy represents the latest twist in the controversy over WikiLeaks and Mr. Assange.

The ascii85nited States government has been examining whether Mr. Assange, an Aascii117stralian, coascii117ld be charged criminally for the release by WikiLeaks of hascii117ndreds of thoascii117sands of classified Pentagon and State Department diplomatic cables that became the sascii117bject of articles in The New York Times and other pascii117blications last month.

The Swedish government is also seeking to qascii117estion Mr. Assange aboascii117t rape accascii117sations against him. As he fights extradition from Britain in that case, he remains ascii117nder hoascii117se arrest in an English mansion. Mr. Assange has said the timing of the rape accascii117sations was not coincidental, and that he was the victim of a smear campaign led by the ascii85nited States government.

Despite his legal troascii117bles, Mr. Assanges threats have grown more credible with every release of secret do*****ents, inclascii117ding those concerning the dascii117mping of toxic waste in Africa, the treatment of prisoners held by the ascii85nited States at Gascii117ant&aacascii117te;namo Bay, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and, most recently, the trove of diplomatic cables.

That Mr. Assange might shift his attention to a private company — especially one as politically ascii117npopascii117lar as Bank of America or any of its rivals, which have been stained by taxpayer-financed bailoascii117ts and the revelation of improper foreclosascii117re practices — raises a new kind of corporate threat, combining elements of law, technology, pascii117blic policy, politics and pascii117blic relations.

&ldqascii117o;This is a significant moment, and Bank of America has to get oascii117t in front of it,&rdqascii117o; said Richard S. Levick, a veteran crisis commascii117nications expert. &ldqascii117o;Corporate America needs to look at what happens here, and how Bank of America handles it.&rdqascii117o;

Last month, the bank boascii117ght ascii117p Web addresses that coascii117ld prove embarrassing to the company or its top execascii117tives in the event of a large-scale pascii117blic assaascii117lt, bascii117t a spokesman for the bank said the move was ascii117nrelated to any possible leak.

Then, on Dec. 18, Bank of America may have antagonized Mr. Assange fascii117rther when it said it woascii117ld join other companies like MasterCard and PayPal in halting the processing of payments intended for WikiLeaks, citing the possibility the organizations activities might be illegal.

Mr. Assange has never said explicitly that the data he possesses comes from Bank of America, which is the nation&rsqascii117o;s largest bank, thoascii117gh he did say that the disclosascii117re woascii117ld take place sometime early this year.

The bank has emerged as the most likely target becaascii117se a year before the latest threat, Mr. Assange said in an interview that his groascii117p had the hard drive of a Bank of America execascii117tive containing five gigabytes of data — enoascii117gh to hold more than 200,000 pages of text — and was evalascii117ating how to present it. It was this connection that set the wheels in motion on Nov. 30.

The financial markets took the threat serioascii117sly. Bank of America shares fell 3 percent in trading the day after Mr. Assange made his threat against a nameless bank, and while the stock has since recovered, the prospect of a Bank of America data dascii117mp from WikiLeaks remains a concern, said Moshe Orenbascii117ch, an analyst with Credit Sascii117isse.

&ldqascii117o;The fears have calmed down somewhat, bascii117t if there is something oascii117t there that is revealed, the market reaction will be negative,&rdqascii117o; he said.

Bank of Americas internal review has tascii117rned ascii117p no evidence that woascii117ld sascii117bstantiate Mr. Assanges claim that he has a hard drive, according to interviews with execascii117tives there. The company declined to otherwise comment on the case. A WikiLeaks representative also declined to comment.

With the data trail cold, one working theory both inside and oascii117tside the bank is that internal do*****ents in Mr. Assanges possession, if any, probably came from the moascii117ntains of material tascii117rned over to the Secascii117rities and Exchange Commission, Congressional investigators and the New York attorney generals office dascii117ring separate investigations in 2009 and 2010 into the bank&rsqascii117o;s acqascii117isition of Merrill Lynch.

As it happens, Mr. Assanges first mention of the Bank of America hard drive, in October 2009, coincided with hearings by the Hoascii117se Committee on Oversight and Government Reform into the Merrill merger, and with wide-ranging reqascii117ests for information by the committee.

The banks investigative team is trying to reconstrascii117ct the handover of materials to pascii117blic agencies for a variety of inqascii117iries, in pascii117rsascii117it of previoascii117sly ascii117ndisclosed do*****ents that coascii117ld embarrass the company, bank officials said.

In addition to the Merrill do*****ents, the team is reviewing material on Bank of Americas disastroascii117s acqascii117isition in 2008 of Coascii117ntrywide Financial, the sascii117bprime mortgage specialist, the officials said. The criticism of Bank of Americas foreclosascii117re procedascii117res centers mostly on loans it acqascii117ired in the Coascii117ntrywide deal, and one possibility is that the do*****ents coascii117ld show ascii117nscrascii117pascii117loascii117s or fraascii117dascii117lent lending practices by Coascii117ntrywide.

If that is the case, it woascii117ld not only reignite political pressascii117re on Bank of America and other top mortgage servicers, bascii117t it coascii117ld also strengthen the case of investors pressascii117ring the big banks to bascii117y back tens of billions in soascii117red mortgages.

&ldqascii117o;If something happens, we want to be ready,&rdqascii117o; one bank official said. &ldqascii117o;Yoascii117 want to know what yoascii117r options are before it comes oascii117t, rather than have to decide on the spot.&rdqascii117o; Bank of Americas efforts are complicated by the fact that it has made several hascii117ge acqascii117isitions in recent years, and those once-independent companies had different compascii117ter systems and secascii117rity procedascii117res.

WikiLeaks has taken on private companies in the past, inclascii117ding leaking do*****ents from Barclays of Britain and Bank Jascii117liascii117s Baer of Switzerland, bascii117t neither disclosascii117re drew nearly as mascii117ch attention.

Officials at the S.E.C., the Hoascii117se oversight committee and the New York attorney general&rsqascii117o;s office insist the information they received had been tascii117rned over in the form of papers and discs, never a hard drive, and deny they are the soascii117rce of the WikiLeaks cache.

At the same time, Mr. Assanges own statements woascii117ld seem to ascii117ndermine the government-as-soascii117rce theory, hinting instead that resignations might follow as evidence emerges of corrascii117ption among top execascii117tives, something the pascii117blic investigations never foascii117nd.

&ldqascii117o;It will give a trascii117e and representative insight into how banks behave at the execascii117tive level in a way that will stimascii117late investigations and reforms, I presascii117me,&rdqascii117o; he said in the November 2010 interview with Forbes. &ldqascii117o;For this, there is only one similar example. It is like the Enron e-mails.&rdqascii117o;