SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is asking Bank of America Corp. BAC, -1.32% and a lawyer for Merrill Lynch for information on $3.62 billion in bonuses paid by Merrill in 2008 even though the investment firm logged billions in losses, The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday on its Web site. The committee is trying to determine whether it was misled about the timing of the bonuses. Last week, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is conducting his own probe, said Merrill misled Congress in a Nov. 24 letter that said a decision on the bonuses had not been made even though a decision to speed up bonus payments had been made two weeks beforehand.