Orange County still leery of Merrill Lynch. (News Briefs).

Nearly eight years after the largest municipal bankruptcy in history, Orange County is still not comfortable doing business with Merrill Lynch--the firm that sold the county many of the investments that precipitated the financial disaster. In August, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to prevent the county treasurer from using Merrill Lynch without the board's approval. Although the treasurer has not done so, he suggested in a recent memo that he should be allowed to use the firm, arguing that the county has lost as much as $4 million over the last five years by precluding Merrill from competing for the county's business. Merrill Lynch, which was forced to pay the county more than $400 million in 1998 to settle lawsuits connected to the bankruptcy, has expressed an interest in serving the county again. (Source: The Orange County Register, August 14, 2002)