| From
Coinbase Brooks Into OCC Says Will Not
Regulate Entities Or Obey SDNY or CRA
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- CJR -
PFT
UN GATE / SDNY
COURT, Sept 1 – Acting U.S.
Comptroller of the Currency
Brian Brooks, as Coinbase’s
chief legal officer, was
paid $1.4 million in salary --
separate from the stock
options -- in the year and a
half he spent with company,
which had weighed seeking a
charter through the OCC before
making other moves to access
the banking system."
Now Brooks
says, "I'm increasingly
thinking of this agency as an
activities regulator, not an
entity regulator." But since
the Community Reinvestment Act
is enforced with regard to
entities, this is an even more
egregious attach on CRA than
Otting engaged in. Combined
with Brooks open contempt for
rulings of the U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York, it shows
why he should be removed as
Comptroller.
On his
conflicts of interest, Inner
City Press asked - and then
requested under FOIA - what
are the "other tech firms" as
to which Brooks is
acknowledging a conflict.
The
OCC wrote to Inner City Press,
faux apologizing for
withholding information it has
requested about Otting until
after he had left the agency.
Inner City Press immediately
wrote back requesting a copy
of Brooks' ethics letter and
list of companies as to which
even he acknowledges a
conflict of interest.
On June
18, that simple request was
denied and so a FOIA request
was filed, see below.
And now
more than a month later on
July 22 the OCC has provide to
Inner City Press under FOIA a
copy of the ethics memo that
Brooks is recused on: Amazon
(minus AWS), Avant, Aventas,
Merrill Lynch, CoinBase,
EarnUp, Spring Labs, TextIQ -
and Citibank N.A. residential
mortgage business." We'll have
more on this.
From Inner
City Press' FOIA request:
"This is a request under FOIA
on behalf of Inner City Press
and in my personal capacity
for all records concerning
conflicts of interest or the
appearance of conflict of
interest by Acting Comptroller
Brian Brooks, including but
not limited to the Ethics
letter Inner City Press
requested from the OCC, below,
and Coinbase, Avant, OneWest
and any other firm.
Inner City Press in responding
to a request by OCC to "close
out" a FOIA request still not
completed asked "I do have an
OCC public information /
transparency question - for
the Acting Comptroller's
ethics filing - can it be sent
to me at
Matthew.Lee@innercitypress.com?
To identify it: "Brooks has
submitted a letter through the
agency's ethics office
outlining companies he'll
steer clear of because of
potential conflicts of
interest, including Amazon.com
Inc., Bank of America Corp.'s
Merrill Lynch unit, Coinbase
and a number of other tech
firms he's worked with." What
are those companies? Thanks,
-Matthew Lee, Inner City
Press" Days later and
minutes ago Inner City Press
received this: Good Morning
Mr. Lee.... I don't know
the answer to the question you
asked. You should file a
FOIA request for the records
you seek regarding the Acting
Comptroller. " This is that
request, on which expedited
treatment should be granted -
such disclosures are among the
very purposes of FOIA."
Watch this site.
Amid
all this, Fair Finance Watch
and Inner City Press /
Community on the Move have
launched a new project. And so
far, Brooks' national banks
have been among the worst.
Watch this site.
***
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