| Weakening CRA Comptroller
Otting Met Bank CEOs and Clarence Thomas FOIA
Appeal Filed
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- CJR -
PFT
SDNY COURT /
BRONX, May 10 – As US
Comptroller of the Currency
Joseph Otting moved toward
closing the public comment
period amid the COVID-19
pandemic on his widely
criticized rule to weaken the
Community Reinvestment Act, he
took one-on-one input from
JPMorgan Chase's Jaime Dimon,
and the CEOs of Capital One,
Santander, Citizens Bank and
others.
These
others have their names
obscured in the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency's
May 6 response to Inner City
Press' February 12 Freedom of
Information Act request for
"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
Ottings on those dates."
None
of the briefing books have
been provided, and many of the
names of people Otting met
with are obscured.
Listed are,
however, Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas and Senator
Tom Tillis (about "swaps") on
June 10, 2019, and Rick Perry,
twice. View on Scribd;
download on Patreon here.
Along with
Chase's Jaime Dimon, Otting
conversed about CRA with
former Chase CRA officer Mark
Willis, and had a meeting
about a "Project Madison,"
unexplained in the FOIA
response.
There are many empty days, a
trip to Japan and the
Philippines that is mostly
empty but for MUFG, and page
after page of "private
appointment," "Do Not
Schedule" and "Desk Time."
There is a reference to "Citi
Bank" that is obscured. Inner
City Press has now appealed
under FOIA:
"This is a FOIA
appeal for all withheld
portions of Comptroller
Otting's schedule and all
other withheld records
responsive to Inner City Press
/ Fair Finance Watch's
underlying FOIA request.
On May 6 Inner City Press
belatedly received some
responsive documents, but even
on the Comptroller's schedule
entries are redacted or in
some cases unreadable -
including the names of banks
and CEOs met with. For example
on January 24, 2020 there is a
flurry of calls to bank CEOs,
but only Wells Fargo and MUFG
are legible. The calls between
10 am and 11:30 am only list
"CRA CAL" -- then cut off. The
names of these banks must be
disclosed. And more: On
December 10, 2019, the noon
briefing has the Comptroller's
counterparty met with entirely
redacted. This is not
acceptable, and is being
appealed as well as the
withholding of "material
attached" on that day, and
throughout. On January
2, 2020, there is "Discuss
[b(8)] and against on January
3, b(8). This must be released
- at this remove, and because
it if the very purpose of
FOIA. Who was Comtroller
Otting meeting with? About
what? For these reasons we are
appealing all redactions and
withholdings, on an expedited
basis."
While even Otting's partner in
weakening CRA, the FDIC, has
extended the comment period
for foreign banks, Otting
insists that excluding the
public and community required
to stay at home and closing
his comment period is fine.
The OCC's partial FOIA
response to Inner City Press
shows who Otting is working
for. Watch this site.
***
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