Inner City Press





In Other Media-eg New Statesman, AJE, FP, Georgia, NYTAzerbaijan, CSM Click here to contact us     .



These reports are usually available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis
,



Share |   

Follow on TWITTER

Home -

These reports are usually available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis

CONTRIBUTE

(FP Twitterati 100, 2013)

ICP on YouTube

More: InnerCityPro

BloggingHeads.tv
Sept 24, 2013

UN: Sri Lanka

VoA: NYCLU

FOIA Finds  

Google, Asked at UN About Censorship, Moved to Censor the Questioner, Sources Say, Blaming UN - Update - Editorial

Support this work by buying this book

Click on cover for secure site orders

also includes "Toxic Credit in the Global Inner City"
 

 

 


Community
Reinvestment

Bank Beat

Freedom of Information
 

How to Contact Us



After Ex-OCC Brooks Cashed Out His Rule Reversed 52-47 Under Congressional Review Act

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - The Source

SOUTH BRONX, SDNY, May 11 – In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic and after the insurrection, then-Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks on January 13 gave another quid pro quo gift, a bank charter to Anchorage, even as he quit with a week left in the Administration. Inner City Press asked, Where might he land and get rewarded for all this?

 In March we learned: Brooks "joined blockchain credit startup Spring Labs as its first independent director, the Marina Del Rey, California-based fintech bragged." Revolting revolving door.

 Next, moves to overturn one of Brooks' last acts: plans to introduce Congressional Review Act resolutions to eliminate a Trump-era regulation that helps lenders charging 179% APR or more evade state- and voter-approved interest rate caps. The rushed “fake lender” rule took effect in December and was issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The rule protects “rent-a-bank” schemes whereby predatory lenders (the true lender) launder their loans through a few rogue banks (the fake lender), which are exempt from state interest rate caps. The rule overrides 200 years’ worth of caselaw allowing courts to see through usury law evasions to the truth, and replaces it with a pro-evasion rule that looks only at the fine print on the loan agreement.

  On May 11 in the Senate, the fake lender rule was overruled under the Congressional Review Act, by a vote of 52 to 47, which ran nearly to 7 pm.

See Fair Finance Watch tweets here. Watch this site.

 Meanwhile Inner City Press' requests under the Freedom of Information Act into Brooks' conflicts of interest in the fintech and crypto-currency world have yet to be fully answered.  Will Brooks be taking "his" documents with him?

  Brooks went whole hog with Anchorage, the so-called first crypto bank. It should be reversed - but will it be? Anchorage was represented by Dana Syracuse through the revolving door from the NYS Department of Financial Services.

Fair Finance Watch and others opposed and requested extensions on Figure, for which OCC has yet to answer Inner City Press' FOIA request, here

 

***

Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA

Mail: Box 20047, Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540



Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

 Copyright 2006-2019 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com for