| Five Weeks
After OCC Rubberstamped Erebor
Tells Press Doing Best on FOIA
Valuation $4B
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
FEDERAL COURTHOUSE,
Dec 23– Fair Finance Watch
filed a FOIA request with the
OCC in September about
Erebor's charter applications.
This takes place
as the regulators, led by the
FDIC, are seeking to eliminate
public notice and limit public
comment. See, e.g., American
Banker, Sept 10, 2025, "The
FDIC is taking the 'community'
out of CRA enforcement," by
Matthew R. Lee, here
Back on
October 15 the Comptroller
bragged, "
"The OCC
granted preliminary conditional approval to
Erebor Bank after thorough review of its
application. In granting this charter, the OCC
applied the same rigorous review and standards
applied to all charter applications.
“Erebor is the
first de novo bank to receive a preliminary
conditional approval since I arrived at the OCC.
I am committed to a dynamic and diverse federal
banking system, and our decision today is a
first but important step in living up to that
commitment,” said Comptroller of the Currency
Jonathan V. Gould.
But he's
rubberstamping and protecting legacy banks too,
and not only "Community Banks."
On December 22 -
five weeks after approving the
Erebor application, the OCC
wrote to Inner City Press,
"Thank you for your continued
patience regarding your
request 2025-00682-F. We are
actively working on your
request and making every
effort to provide a response
as soon as possible."
Weeks
AFTER the approval? Inner City
Press raised the question, and
on December 23 got this back:
"Hello - We are actively
working on your request and
making every effort to provide
a response as soon as
possible. Thank you." No, the
focus seems to be
rubberstamping approvals.
Meanwhile Erebor
post-rubberstamp has raised
$350 million at a $4.35
billion valuation led by Lux
Capital, and plans to launch
as soon as late January. And
stil no FOIA response?
Back in
September, Inner City Press
requested: This is a request
under FOIA for the exhibits
(mis) labeled "Confidential"
in the application for the
proposed Erebor Bank. The
applicants, who have stated
publicly that the proposed
bank would lending not only to
AI but to weaponry / military,
have withheld almost all
exhibits and information about
their proposal, including even
the names of the directors,
organizers, executives and
principal shareholders. This
is a FOIA request, then, for
all of the exhibits. This is
also a request for all record
reflecting communication by or
within the OCC with or about
Erebor and its unidentified
proposed directors,
organizers, executives and
principal shareholders.
As explained on recent FOIA
requests, it is not limited to
communication with the
applicant but includes
internal OCC record that are
not exempt under FOIA."
Five week after
approval, no records. The OCC
hits new lows daily. Watch
this site.
***
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