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By Matthew R. Lee, FOIA docs

NEW YORK CITY, April 29 – When BB&T announced a $66 billion proposal to take over Suntrust Bank, which would close a still undisclosed number of branches and extend BB&T disparate lending patterns, many linked it to deregulatory moves in Washington. Then two days after Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard was asked by Inner City Press about the Fed's lax review of previous mergers, including WSFS on which the Fed still hasn't ruled on the bank's withholding of information after rubber stamping the deal, the Fed announced public hearings. But the fix it seems it still in. On April 18, conveniently, the Fed "announce[d] termination of enforcement action with BB&T Corporation" for money laundering. So there's a public comment period on the merger, but none on the Fed's dubious move while the application is pending. Meanwhile as Inner City Press has exclusively reported, BB&T has been named in connection with sleazy debt collections in a case in the SDNY - more on all this to come. On April 29, Inner City Press submitted a FOIA request about the dubious termination of enforcement action, and a comment to the Fed and FDIC, including: "Dear Chair Powell, Secretary Misback and others in the FRS (& FDIC)       This is a timely first comment opposing and requesting documents about and an extension of the FRB's  and FDIC's public comment periods on the Application by BB&T Corporation to merge with SunTrust Banks, Inc. and indirectly acquire SunTrust Bank Holding Company, Orlando, FL, and SunTrust Bank.       As Fair Finance Watch was reviewing the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and other data of the banks with an eye toward commenting or not commenting by the current May 3 expiration of comment period on this proposed mega-merger, it and Inner City Press were shocked to see the Federal Reserve Board's cynical April 18 termination of the enforcement action against BB&T for money laundering.       Money laundering is, along with redlining, one of the most serious crimes a bank can engage in. For example currently in the SDNY there are numerous AML prosecutions, resulting for example in the conviction of CEFC's Ho for UN-related bribery. Even the Fed had historically acknowledged the primacy of full AML compliance over the rush toward corporate combination, for example in connection with M&T Bank.       Yet here, for the convenience of and in collusion with a proposed mega merger, the Fed without transparency has terminated the BB&T AML enforcement action during the public comment period on the merger, without taking any public comment on it.       Today Inner City Press has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Federal Reserve for records related to this troubling de-regulatory action. It has requested expedited treatment and formally requests that the comment period be kept open until the FRB has made these records available.      Meanwhile, Fair Finance Watch has reviewed BB&T's HMDA data for 2017, the most recent year for which such disclosure data is available, and for now note that for example in the Houston Texas MSA in 2017, BB&T made 56 conventional home purchase loans to whites and only four to African Americans and only six to Latinos. In the New York City MSA in 2017, BB&T made four such loans to whites and none at all to people of color. In Charleston, WV in 2017 it made 57 such loans to whites and none to people of color. From the first of what should now be more than two public meetings, in West Virginia, SunTrust has already closed all of its branches; over the past four years, BB&T has closed more than 10 branches in the state.       We note on the FDIC's web page no sign of an application for this merger. The Federal Reserve should not rule until the FDIC board is full, and to coordinate its review with such a full FDIC board. This comment should be transmitted by the FRB to state regulators in NC and Georgia.       Here for the record on this application is from the FOIA request Inner City Press has submitted:     This is a request for all records in the possession of the Federal Reserve System regarding the 18 April 2019 termination of the money laundering enformence action against BB&T. In order to comment on the troubling proposed acquision of Suntrust Bank by BB&T Inner City Press requests the records before the 3 May 2019 current expiration of comment period, or that the comment period be extended. Accordingly, this is a request for expedited treatment on the matter of obvious public importance, including in light of the dangers money laundering can pose to safety.     Please search for responsive records regardless of format, medium, or physical characteristics. We seek records of any kind, including paper records, electronic records, audiotapes, videotapes, photographs, data, and graphical material. Our request includes without limitation all correspondence, letters, emails, text messages, facsimiles, telephone messages, voice mail messages, and transcripts, notes, or minutes of any meetings, telephone conversations, or discussions. Our request also includes any attachments to emails and other records, as well as those who were cc’ed or bcc’ed on any emails. If it is your position any portion of the requested records is exempt from disclosure, ICP requests that you provide it with an index of those documents as required under Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820 (D.C. Cir. 1973). In the event some portions of the requested records are properly exempt from disclosure, please disclose any reasonably segregable non-exempt portions of the requested records. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(b). If it is your position that a document contains non-exempt segments, but that those non-exempt segments are so dispersed throughout the document as to make segregation impossible, please state what portion of the document is nonexempt, and how the material is dispersed throughout the document. See Mead Data Central v. U.S. Dep’t of the Air Force, 566 F.2d 242, 261 (D.C. Cir. 1977).     Please search all records regarding agency business. You may not exclude searches of files or emails in the personal custody of your officials, such as personal email accounts. Records of official business conducted using unofficial systems or stored outside of official files is subject to the Federal Records Act and FOIA.  It is not adequate to rely on policies and procedures that require officials to move such information to official systems within a certain period of time; ICP has a right to records contained in those files even if material has not yet been moved to official systems or if officials have, through negligence or willfulness, failed to meet their obligations.     ICP requests that you expedite the processing of this request.  I certify to be true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief, that there is media interest in the Fed's role in this case and the underlying facts. I further certify that ICP is actively engaged in disseminating information to the public. ICP will use the information gathered, and its analysis of it, to educate the public through reports, press releases, and other media. ICP will also make materials it gathers available on our website and promote their availability on social media platforms, such as Twitter, where ICP has over 30,000 followers. Accordingly, ICP request satisfies the criteria for expedition       On the current record, BB&T's applications should be denied."  Watch this site.

  Recent deregulatory moves  include an assault on the Community Reinvestment Act, being led by Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting, who while at OneWest Bank led a false commenting process to push through a merger with CIT Group. (Otting is trying to change the OCC's practices on FOIA fee waivers and is even refusing to consider comments on some Business Combinations. But this BB&T proposal will go to the Fed whose Jerome Powell has vowed, credibly or not, to conduct a full review. And so consider this:  BB&T has been ordered to return $5.2 million to investors, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, over charges it it acquired misled clients about the cost of advisory services.  The SEC said the firm that BB&T acquired with Susquehanna Bancshares, known then as Valley Forge Asset Management, misled about 1,200 clients into believing they were receiving full service brokerage services at a discount. We'll have more on this.

 Fair Finance Watch, which has been tracking BB&T as well as Otting's and the Federal Reserve's anti-CRA moves, finds that for example in the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area in 2017 BB&T denied the home purchase mortgage applications of African Americans 2.2 times more frequently than whites, while making only 50 such loans to African Americans, and 23 to Latinos, compared to 458 to whites, all more disparate that other lenders in the market.

  While some portray the proposed merger as a fait accompli, the Fed and OCC must hold public comment periods and consider the banks' CRA records, even as they race to undermine the law. Inner City Press will submit requests under the Freedom of Information Act, as it has on OneWest - CIT and now for Otting's schedule as Comptroller.

On January 16 Inner City Press asked the OCC on the expedited basis for records to disclose Otting's meetings with the banking industry and others:  "Dear OCC FOIA Officer: Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch (ICP) makes this request for records pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, and OCC regulations. ICP requests copies of records sufficient to show all of Comptroller Otting's scheduled meetings, appointments, and scheduled events from the date he became Comptroller to the date of your response including but not limited to Outlook calendar entries and daily briefing books for Comptroller Otting on those dates... ICP requests that you expedite the processing of this request. There is media interest and there exist possible questions concerning the OCC's integrity, which affect public confidence. See e.g. this article and the CRA ANPR since." We'll have more on this.

 Bigger picture, or on the club BB&T is trying to join, Otting's OneWest colleague and now boss, US Treasury Department Steve Mnuchin on December 22 from Cabo called six big US banks: "Brian Moynihan, Bank of America; Michael Corbat, Citi; David Solomon, Goldman Sachs; Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase, James Gorman, Morgan Stanley; Tim Sloan, Wells Fargo. The CEOs confirmed that they have ample liquidity available for lending to consumer, business markets, and all other market operations...  Here are some of the documents, for (still) free download on Patreon.

 On October 1 Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch submitted the documents obtained under FOIA into the record before the OCC, stating that "These documents, which must be considered as part of this ANPR and any subsequent formal rulemaking, show that fraudulent comments supporting Otting's OneWest were submitted to the OCC - presumptively attributable to Otting.
The documents show that the OCC sought an explanation from Otting's / OneWest's outside counsel - and the OCC's and Justice Department's response to date reflect that no such explanation was ever provided. The OCC nevertheless approved the merger and even gave weight to the fraudulent comments. On this record we again insist that Otting be recused from this ANPR and any related rulemaking or proceedings. We have other substantive concerns about this ANPR but view the question of Mr Otting's recusal (and of with whom he has met, on which Inner City Press has another long-pending FOIA request) as threshold matter than must be addressed as quickly as possible."

 The FOIA document as provided by the OCC and US Department of Justice reflect that the OCC never followed up on its lone (and wan) question to Otting's counsel as Sullivan & Cromwell to explain the fraudulent comments. Nor did this counsel respond to questions from The Intercept's David Dayen, who reports: "AFTER A YEARLONG effort to obtain the information, which included ongoing litigation, the OCC made available 15 pages. They contain emails to and from David Finnegan, an OCC senior licensing analyst who was a point of contact for public comment on the merger.

Four individuals contended in emails to Finnegan that they never sent the comment letters supporting the merger. “This is to bring to your attention that I received an email from the office of OCC regarding a subject I am completely unaware of,” wrote one individual (the OCC redacted the emailers’ identifying information). “I DID NOT send the email below that you responded to. This is a fraudulent use of my email account.” The other three sent similar complaints.

The letter of support attributed to these individuals was identical to the letter posted at the OneWest Bank website.

Matthew Lee of Inner City Press expressed outrage at the fake comments. “There’s nothing more offensive of speech rights than artificially presenting someone as saying something you don’t believe,” Lee said. “You have the right to be silent. It’s so beyond the pale.”

FOIA Finds: OneWest CIT Ban... by on Scribd

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