NEW YORK, (Reuters) – New York state’s top legal  officer issued subpoenas on Wednesday to seven executives who  received tens of millions of dollars in 2008 pay from Merrill  Lynch & Co before it was taken over by Bank of America Corp, a person familiar with the investigation said.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is seeking information from  the executives, top earners at Merrill even as its net loss  swelled last year to $27.6 billion.

Last month, Cuomo’s lawyers took testimony under oath from  former Merrill head John Thain and Bank of America CEO Kenneth  Lewis, part of a probe into whether the firm broke securities  laws on public disclosure of executive compensation.