Frank, Barney Rep

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rev dr pension?!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wolff econ update 8/10/18</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">say it ain't so</font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">svb signature silvergate crypto fail</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">~ Eliz, manchin sinema trump regs water down fair to sm bank BS</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/dodd-frank/">https://www.alternet.org/dodd-frank/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">eurasia rev</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before the financial collapse come the aggressive anti-regulation lobbyists.&nbsp; These are often of the same ilk: loathing anything resembling oversight, restriction, reporting and monitoring.&nbsp; They are incarnations of the frontier, symbolically toting guns and slaying the natives, seeking wealth beyond paper jottings, compliance and bureaucratic tedium. &nbsp;</font></p><div data-ad-id="294211" class="afw afw-ga afw_ad afwadid-294211 " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 15px 10px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; float: left;" /><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/10/silicon-valley-bank-collapse-00086586" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">collapse of Silicon Valley Bank</a>&nbsp;(SVB), for a period of time the preferred bank for start-ups, is the bitter fruit of that harvest.&nbsp; Three days prior to the second-largest failure of a US financial institution since the implosion of Washington Mutual (Wamu) in 2008, lobbyists for the banking sector had reason to gloat.&nbsp; They had the ears of a number of GOP lawmakers and were pressing the case that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had little reason to sharpen regulations in the industry. &nbsp;</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">As a matter of fact, the converse case was put: the financial environment was proving too stringent, and needed easing up.&nbsp; This effort built on gains made during the Trump administration, which saw the passing of the <b>Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act.&nbsp; Then House majority leader Kevin McCarthy was particularly keen on winding back elements of the Dodd-Frank banking measures </b>introduced in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.&nbsp; In 2018, he got much of what he wished for.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lobbyists for SVB were particularly aggressive in that endeavour, and even went so far as to&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/03/11/silicon-valley-bank-used-former-mccarthy-staffers-to-weaken-regulations-lobby-fdic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">seek exemptions</a>&nbsp;from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the body responsible for insuring bank deposits in times of crisis and institutional oversight.&nbsp; Two former staffers for McCarthy so&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/03/11/silicon-valley-bank-used-former-mccarthy-staffers-to-weaken-regulations-lobby-fdic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">happen to be registered lobbyists</a>&nbsp;for SVB, a fact that shows how the US revolving door between politics and business continues to whirr at some speed.&nbsp; The SVB lobby list also includes figures who found employment under former President Bill Clinton, former Senator Mike Enzi (R-My), former Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and former Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), just to name a few</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The crisis duly came.&nbsp;</b> On March 9, startups and venture capitalists made a run on SVB as its share price took a tumble.&nbsp; SVB had&nbsp;<a href="https://news.bitcoin.com/fiat-is-fragile-silicon-valley-banks-collapse-sparks-finger-pointing-and-concerns-of-contagion/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">sold</a>&nbsp;its available-for-sale (AFS) portfolio for US$21 billion at a US$1.8 billion loss.&nbsp; In a patch-up, capital raising response, SVB then&nbsp;<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/10/investing/svb-bank/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">announced</a>&nbsp;that it would sell US$2.25 billion in new shares. &nbsp;</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">By the next day, the FDIC had placed SVB into receivership</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.&nbsp; The corporation promised that insured depositors would have access to their insured deposits on March 13; uninsured depositors would have to wait a bit longer, expecting an “advance within the next week.”&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> But given that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/will-silicon-valley-bank-depositors-get-money-back-will-made-whole-que-rcna74498" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">90% of the bank’s deposits</a>&nbsp;exceeded the amount guaranteed by the FDIC, the prospects for adequate recovery proved uncertain, at least till the FDIC, Federal Reserve and US Treasury promised protection for them.</span></font></p><div data-ad-id="294212" class="afw afw-ga afw_ad afwadid-294212 " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 5px 10px 5px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; float: left;" /><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo proved rather green in suggesting that the financial system, as things stood, would be resilient enough to hold off any contagion.&nbsp; “Federal regulators are paying attention to this particular financial institution,”&nbsp;<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/10/investing/svb-bank/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">he told</a>&nbsp;CNN, “and when we think about the broader financial system, we’re very confident in the ability and the resilience of the system.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This is bound to be misplaced.&nbsp; It’s certainly not the view held by<b> former FDIC head, Sheila Blair, </b>who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/why-silicon-valley-bank-s-lightning-collapse-stunned-banking-industry-20230312-p5crev.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">argues</a>&nbsp;that there are other banks in the system with large amounts of uninsured deposits and unrealised losses.&nbsp; “These banks that have large amounts of institutional uninsured money … that’s going to be hot money that runs if there’s a sign of trouble.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">David Sacks of Craft <b>Ventures</b> is also&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/DavidSacks/status/1634292056821764099" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">of the view</a>&nbsp;that immediate intervention at the government level was required.&nbsp; “Where is Powell?” he wondered.&nbsp; “Where is [US Secretary of the Treasury Janet] Yellen?&nbsp; Stop this crisis NOW.”&nbsp; SVB, he proposed, should be placed with a top four bank. “Do this before Monday open or there will be contagion and the crisis will spread.”&nbsp; &nbsp;</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Questions are being asked whether the anti-regulatory bug has gotten to the various authorities and agencies. Mike Novogratz, founder of Galaxy Digital,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/novogratz/status/1634247140552613899?s=20" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">pondered</a>&nbsp;whether all banks were now being treated like hedge funds.&nbsp; “Seems like a policy mistake.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Economists such as Peter Schiff are&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/PeterSchiff/status/1634244633545850898?s=20" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">even more damning</a>, claiming that the entire US banking sector is set for a cathartic clean-up that will be greater than that following 2008</b>.&nbsp; US banks were holding “long-term paper at extremely low interest rates.&nbsp; They can’t compete with short-term Treasuries.”&nbsp; In such an environment, depositors, in the pursuit of higher yields, would initiate mass withdrawals, resulting in a tidal wave of bank collapses.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Blame for the SVB debacle has been extensive. “This was a hysteria-induced bank run caused by VCs [venture capitalists],”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/10/silicon-valley-bank-collapse-how-it-happened.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">opined</a>&nbsp;Ryan Falvey, a fintech investor based at Restive Ventures.&nbsp; “This is going to be remembered as one of the ultimate cases of an industry cutting off its nose to spite its face.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">”</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The oversight advocates are bound to agree.&nbsp; Dennis Kelleher, CEO of the non-profit Better Markets,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/12/banks-regulations-feds-svb-meltdown-00086694" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">is certainly one</a>.&nbsp; “SVB’s stunningly quick collapse should put an end to the nonstop attempts by banks, lobbyists and their political allies to weaken capital and other financial regulations that protect depositors, consumers, investors and financial stability.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This is likely to prove to be a flight of fancy.&nbsp; The banking lobbyists have destructive form and staying power.&nbsp; In 2019, the International Monetary Fund&nbsp;<a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2019/08/09/Bank-Lobbying-Regulatory-Capture-and-Beyond-45735" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">published a working paper</a>&nbsp;noting that <b>bank lobbying, in general, produced “regulatory capture, which lessens the support for tighter rules and enforcement.&nbsp; This, in turn, allows riskier practices and worse economic outcomes.”&nbsp;</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the great financial crisis showed, financial regulation is often the antidote to banditry.&nbsp; The pillaging and frontier types will always resist such tendencies. Again, they have been found wanting, and again, the harmful consequences of their ideas are going to prove deep and extensive.</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lever</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Eight years before the second-largest bank failure in American history occurred this week, the bank’s president personally pressed Congress to reduce scrutiny of his financial institution, citing the “low risk profile of our activities and business model,” according to federal records reviewed by&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Lever.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Three years later — after the bank spent more than half a million dollars on federal lobbying — lawmakers obliged.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On Friday, California regulators shut down the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a top lender to venture capital firms and tech startups, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took it over, following a bank run by its customers. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The bank&nbsp;<a href="https://fortune.com/2023/03/10/silicon-valley-bank-chief-risk-officer/?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">reportedly</a>&nbsp;did not have a chief risk officer in the months leading up to the collapse, while more than&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/business/status/1634211584657571843?s=20&ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">90 percent of its deposits</a>&nbsp;were not insured.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">in 2015, SVB President Greg Becker&nbsp;<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-114shrg94375/pdf/CHRG-114shrg94375.pdf?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">submitted a statement to a Senate panel</a>&nbsp;pushing legislators to exempt more banks — including his own — from new regulations passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Despite&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/cache/files/1f3f2e7c-ca31-4976-976e-cd48b0a788c9/dodd-frank-roll-back-bill--a-windfall-for-big-banks.pdf?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">warnings</a>&nbsp;from some senators, Becker’s lobbying effort was ultimately successf</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ul.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Touting “SVB’s deep understanding of the markets it serves,<b style=""> our strong risk management practices,</b>” Becker argued that his bank would soon reach $50 billion in assets, which under the law would trigger “enhanced prudential standards,” including more stringent regulations, stress tests, and capital requirements for his and other similarly sized banks.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Becker insisted that $250 billion was a more appropriate threshold.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Without such changes, SVB likely will need to divert significant resources from providing financing to </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">job-creating companies in the innovation economy to complying with enhanced prudential standards and other requirements,”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> wrote </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b style="">Becker, who&nbsp;</b><a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/svb-financial-stock-sale-ceo-greg-becker-f5089a4d?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);"><b>reportedly</b></a><b style="">&nbsp;sold $3.6 million of his own stock two weeks ago, in the lead-up to the bank’s collapse. “</b></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Given the low risk profile of our activities and business model, such a result would stifle our ability to provide credit to our clients without any meaningful corresponding reduction in risk.”</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Two months later, <b>SVB&nbsp;<a href="https://www.svb.com/news/company-news/svb-financial-group-appoints-mary-john-miller-formerly-of-the-u.s.-treasury-department-to-its-board-of-directors?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">added</a>&nbsp;former Obama Treasury Department official Mary Miller to its board,</b> noting she had previously helped oversee “financial regulatory reforms.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Around that time,&nbsp;<a href="https://lda.senate.gov/filings/public/filing/40f1aec7-9dbf-46da-a20e-2ce2f5af80cc/print/?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">federal</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://lda.senate.gov/filings/public/filing/1a82c199-21a1-447c-98ca-78decd6cc97e/print/?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">disclosure</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://lda.senate.gov/filings/public/filing/e5be3075-8267-42a0-8aa2-aa1725d4e7d4/print/?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">records</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://lda.senate.gov/filings/public/filing/276fe661-9582-4f96-995d-151d133db5e2/print/?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">show</a>&nbsp;the bank was lobbying lawmakers on “financial regulatory reform” and the Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act of 2015 — a bill that was the precursor to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2155/text?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">legislation</a>&nbsp;ultimately signed by President Donald Trump that increased the regulatory threshold for stronger stress tests to $250 billion.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump signed the bill despite a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/democrats/2018/3/dodd-frank-roll-back-bill-a-windfall-for-big-banks?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">report</a>&nbsp;from Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee warning that under the new law, SVB and other banks of its size “would no longer be subject to nearly any enhanced regulations.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The bill was supported in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1152/vote_115_2_00054.htm?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">Senate</a>&nbsp;by 50 Republicans and 17 Democrats, including <b>Virginia Sen. Mark Warner (D), for whom Becker held a fundraiser at his Menlo Park, California, home in 2016,</b> according to an&nbsp;<a href="http://politicalpartytime.org/party/41385/?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">invite</a>&nbsp;obtained by The Sunlight Foundation and OpenSecrets. The bank’s political action committee also donated a total of $10,000 to Warner’s campaigns in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/silicon-valley-bank/C00333658/candidate-recipients/2016?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">2016</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/silicon-valley-bank/C00333658/candidate-recipients/2018?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">2018</a>&nbsp;election cycles</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2019, when the Federal Reserve proposed regulations implementing the deregulatory law, financial watchdogs warned that its regulations on Category IV institutions — as&nbsp;<a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45711?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">SVB was later classified</a>&nbsp;due to its size and other risk factors — were far too weak.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The proposal to significantly weaken enhanced prudential standards for Category IV firms could be disastrous,” Better Markets, a nonprofit advocating for stricter financial regulations,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/SECRS/2019/August/20190806/R-1658/R-1658_062119_134209_447374886406_1.pdf?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">wrote</a>&nbsp;in a comment on the Federal Reserve’s proposal. “Moreover, these are not small or insignificant firms. Recall that the smallest among this class of banks is over twice the size of the $50 billion dollar banks that automatically required enhanced prudential regulation under the Dodd-Frank Act as originally enacted.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/11/01/2019-23662/prudential-standards-for-large-bank-holding-companies-savings-and-loan-holding-companies-and-foreign?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">final rule</a>&nbsp;guaranteed that Category IV institutions are “not required to conduct and publicly report the results of a company-run stress test” and “reduces the required minimum frequency of liquidity stress tests and granularity of certain liquidity risk-management requirements,” according to Federal Reserve officials at the time.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2021, SVB passed the threshold of $100 billion under management, triggering some additional scrutiny as a Category IV bank but remaining exempt from the more frequent and detailed analyses that regulators perform to determine whether banks above $250 billion of assets have sufficient capital to withstand a crisis.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">a press release Friday from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation noted that as of December 2022, SVB had&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fdic.gov/news/press-releases/2023/pr23016.html?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">$209 billion</a>&nbsp;in assets under management — keeping it below the $250 billion threshold for which the bank had lobbied</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SVB is the biggest bank to collapse&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-bank-svb-biggest-bank-failure-since-2008-crisis-2023-3?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">since</a>&nbsp;Washington Mutual failed in 2008 during the financial crisis, and the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Prior to Becker’s 2015 push, SVB had&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/SECRS/2012/June/20120604/R-1438/R-1438_043012_107264_488260652948_1.pdf?ref=the-lever" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">pressed</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;Federal Reserve officials to limit regulatory scrutiny of mid-sized banks, arguing that “</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">we are very concerned that the regulatory requirements for covered companies will end up trickling down to smaller financial institutions.”</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: calc(0.1 + var(--line-height-base)); margin: 0 0 var(--gap-lg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2019, Becker was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.frbsf.org/our-district/press/news-releases/2019/leadership-and-membership-announcements-board-of-directors/?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">elected</a>&nbsp;to serve on the board of directors at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Becker&nbsp;<a href="https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/ceo-of-failed-silicon-valley-bank-no-longer-a-director-at-sf-fed-3027959?ref=the-lever" style="box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: none; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-dark);">left the board</a>&nbsp;on Friday.</font></p></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="detail__headline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.2; padding-top: 1.5rem; padding-bottom: 0px; width: 1200px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How a small bank became a go-to lender to the Trump family</font></h1></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">A bank helped finance Trump’s Florida golf course. It lent money to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and to Kushner’s father, Charles. It provided Trump and his business with checking accounts. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">And Ivanka Trump sat on Signature’s board of directors while the bank was lending to her father and her husband, Kushner</span><span style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">.</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">NEW YORK — When Michael Cohen needed $17 million to buy a Manhattan apartment building in 2015, he went to Signature Bank.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Signature had existed for less than two decades, and compared with some of its New York rivals, it was a small player occupying unglamorous niches.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);"><b>Yet it was a natural place to go for Cohen, who was Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.</b>&nbsp;Years earlier, he had helped initiate a relationship between Signature and Trump, and the bank became an unlikely go-to lender for the future president and his extended family.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">The bank helped finance Trump’s Florida golf course. It lent money to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and to Kushner’s father, Charles. It provided Trump and his business with checking accounts. And Ivanka Trump sat on Signature’s board of directors while the bank was lending to her father and her husband, Kushner.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Signature provides a window into the intersecting financial interests of Cohen and the Trump and Kushner families. With Ivanka Trump and Kushner working in the White House, and Cohen under criminal investigation, Signature’s interactions with some of its most famous clients are attracting attention from regulators.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">New York’s Department of Financial Services this year requested information from Signature about its credit lines to the Kushners, according to people familiar with the requests. They said regulators were reviewing whether Kushner’s White House role could compromise Signature’s ability to collect on the loans.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">That review of Kushner’s loan documents led the New York regulators to broaden their inquiry, said one person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the regulator’s activities.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;The agency is now looking into whether Signature lent money to real estate developers — including the Kushner family’s business, Kushner Cos. — knowing they planned to use abusive tactics to push out low-rent tenants and then charge more</span><span style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">, according to two people familiar with the review. It is focused on whether Signature’s loans were overly risky and violated laws intended to prevent predatory behavior.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">The inquiry is at an early stage and might include banks other than Signature, the person said.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“We recognize we are not perfect,” Signature’s chairman</span><span style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">, Scott A. Shay, said in a statement</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">. “However, any allegation that we knowingly or somehow actively abet tenant harassment is frankly a slander against Signature Bank and an unfair impugning of the reputations of many hardworking colleagues who strive to be a positive force for not only our shareholders and depositors but our community as well.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Signature announced Friday that it was stepping up efforts to make sure its lending does not lead to the displacement of tenants. The pledge drew praise from the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development, a New York community group.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);"><b>Last week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said the state was opening an investigation into allegations, filed in a lawsuit, that Kushner Cos. illegally harassed low-rent tenants to get them to leave.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Christine Taylor, a Kushner Cos. spokeswoman, said, “All our business with Signature Bank has been entirely appropriate.” She added that before Kushner joined the White House, “we never had these type of inquiries which appear to be solely for political reasons.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Amanda Miller, a Trump Organization spokeswoman, played down the company’s relationship with Signature. “While the company has, from time to time, done some business with Signature Bank, those dealings were few and far between and limited in scope,” she said. (Other banks, such as Deutsche Bank, have done more business with the Trump Organization.)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Shay and Joseph DePaolo founded Signature in 1999 with backing from Israel’s biggest lender, Bank Hapoalim. One of Signature’s specialties was financing the purchase of taxi medallions, which authorize holders to operate cabs. Cohen had amassed a large portfolio of medallions and had borrowed money from bankers who later joined Signature.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Signature forged deep political connections — its board members have included a former Republican senator, Alfonse D’Amato, and a former New York lieutenant governor, Alfred B. DelBello, a Democrat. A former Democratic congressman, Barney Frank, joined the board in 2015.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">The bank also became known for doing more than rivals to accommodate customers.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">For example, Signature allowed some business clients to withdraw cash even when their accounts were empty, creating overdrafts of tens of thousands of dollars without formal loan agreements, according to a former employee and a client who said he routinely did this. That attracted clients with irregular cash flow.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">In an interview at Signature’s Fifth Avenue headquarters, DePaolo, the bank’s chief executive, acknowledged that Signature did things that rivals wouldn’t. He said it was part of providing superior services to trustworthy customers. He and Shay said Signature complied with all banking rules.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Frank said Signature served a valuable role by financing housing for low- and middle-income tenants. “It’s very well run,” he said.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Before Donald Trump became a Signature client, he fought the bank.</b>&nbsp;The 2007 skirmish involved a construction company that Trump had hired to help build a golf course. After Trump refused to pay the company’s bills and sued it for subpar work, the company went bankrupt. It owed Signature money. Trump’s and Signature’s lawyers argued in court that their clients were both entitled to the same funds from the bankrupt company.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Trump and Signature settled in September 2009. Three months later, the Trump Organization started borrowing from Signature — thanks, at least in part, to Cohen.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Cohen had joined the Trump Organization in 2007 as an executive and was on the condominium board of Trump World Tower, across from the United Nations. In December 2009, Signature lent $800,000 to the building, managed by the Trump Organization, to refinance the mortgage on the superintendent’s apartment.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);"><b>A former Signature employee said Cohen had helped arrange the loan.</b>&nbsp;Signature executives say they have no record of Cohen’s involvement.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">A long-term relationship between Signature and the Trump family ensued.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);"><b>In 2010, the year after Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner married, Charles Kushner and his wife opened a Signature account,</b>&nbsp;a bank spokeswoman said. That year, the Trump International Golf Club in Florida received two letters of credit from Signature totaling $212,000. The letters provided a guarantee from Signature that Donald Trump would be able to pay what he owed in a contract with a third party. Signature said the letters of credit were fully secured by cash that Trump had at the bank.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Signature in 2011 gave Charles and Jared Kushner a credit line from which they borrowed nearly $5 million that year, securities filings show.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);"><b>In September 2011, Signature named Ivanka Trump, who was 29, to its board. She was paid $198,875 in 2012 in cash and stock.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Shay said Ivanka Trump had been invited onto the nine-member board as part of an effort to recruit younger directors and to give it a second woman.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">“She was an active, engaged board member,” Shay said. “She read everything and asked questions if she didn’t understand.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);"><b>Giving seats on the board of a publicly traded company like Signature to people directly connected to large clients is generally frowned on.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">“Directors should not have significant commercial relationships with institutions on whose boards they sit,” said Charles Elson, a professor of corporate governance at the University of Delaware. “You’re there to oversee operations and be objective. Your job is not to guarantee business for the bank or the company but to ensure effective oversight.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Signature nonetheless designated Ivanka Trump as an independent director and assigned her to board committees that set executive compensation and monitored risks.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">The bank continued to do business with her family. It renewed credit lines to the Kushners, who by the end of 2012 owed the bank $4 million.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Shay said that Trump had recused herself from decisions involving her family and that the transactions hadn’t been large enough to compromise her independence.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">With the benefit of hindsight, DePaolo said, “I almost regret that we had Ivanka on the board.” Shay added: “Had we known the identity of the 45th president, I think we would have thought twice. But that’s not to say she wasn’t a great board member.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Ivanka Trump stepped down from the board in early 2013 because of “her highly demanding schedule.” A White House spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment about Trump’s role.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Five months later, Signature started making mortgage loans to Kushner’s company. Kushner Cos. has received at least 21 mortgages from Signature, totaling more than $210 million. The loans were mostly for buildings in&nbsp;<b>Manhattan and Brooklyn where many tenants live in rent-regulated apartments.</b></span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">“All the lending we’ve done with them has been very conservative,” Shay said.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">In February 2015, shortly before Trump’s presidential campaign got underway, Signature made the $17 million loan to Cohen.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Cohen said in an email that the loan had been “sourced by a mortgage broker and not based upon any personal relationships.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">DePaolo said that at the time of the loan, Cohen wasn’t a public figure. “We did a background check and nothing out of the ordinary came up — he looked fine,” he said.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Signature has kept lending to the Kushners. Last year, Kushner and his father took advantage of the latest in a series of credit lines provided by the bank, borrowing more than $5 million, according to Kushner’s most recent government ethics filing.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">Signature executives argue they are being punished unfairly for lending that mostly took place before the election.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">“We feel abused,” Shay said.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(248, 245, 239);">&nbsp;The New York Times</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><div><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Barnett "Barney" Frank</b>&nbsp;(born March 31, 1940) is an American politician who served as a member of the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">U.S. House of Representatives</a>&nbsp;from&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts" title="Massachusetts" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Massachusetts</a>&nbsp;from 1981 to 2013. A member of the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Democratic Party</a>, he served as chairman of the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Financial_Services_Committee" title="House Financial Services Committee" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">House Financial Services Committee</a>&nbsp;(2007–2011) and was a leading co-sponsor of the 2010<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodd%E2%80%93Frank_Wall_Street_Reform_and_Consumer_Protection_Act" title="Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Dodd–Frank Act</a>, a sweeping reform of the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_industry" title="Financial industry" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">financial industry</a>. Frank, a resident of&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton,Massachusetts" title="Newton, Massachusetts" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Newton, Massachusetts</a>, is considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Born and raised in&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonne,New_Jersey" title="Bayonne, New Jersey" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Bayonne, New Jersey</a>, Frank graduated from&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_College" title="Harvard College" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Harvard College</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School" title="Harvard Law School" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Harvard Law School</a>. He worked as a political aide before winning election to the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_House_of_Representatives" title="Massachusetts House of Representatives" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Massachusetts House of Representatives</a>&nbsp;in 1972. He was elected to the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">U.S. House of Representatives</a>&nbsp;in 1980 with 52 percent of the vote. He was re-elected every term thereafter by wide margins. In 1987, he&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openly_gay" title="Openly gay" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">came out as gay</a>, becoming the first member of Congress to do so voluntarily. From 2003 until his retirement, Frank was the leading Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, and he served as committee chairman when his party held a House majority from 2007 to 2011. In July 2012, he married his long-time partner, James Ready, becoming the first member of Congress to marry someone of the same sex while in office.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a></sup>&nbsp;Frank did not seek re-election in 2012, and retired from Congress at the end of his term in January 2013.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[3]</a></sup>&nbsp;Frank had expressed interest in serving temporarily in the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">United States Senate</a>after&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerry" title="John Kerry" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">John Kerry</a>&nbsp;had been confirmed as&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_State" title="United States Secretary of State" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Secretary of State</a>&nbsp;but was ultimately passed over for&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Cowan" title="Mo Cowan" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Mo Cowan</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[4]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><ul style="line-height: 1.6; list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Early_life.2C_education.2C_and_early_career" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Early life, education, and early career</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Pre-congressional_career" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">2</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Pre-congressional career</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#U.S._House_of_Representatives" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">3</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">U.S. House of Representatives</span></font></a><ul style="line-height: 1.6; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Elections" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">3.1</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Elections</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Tenure" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">3.2</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Tenure</span></font></a><ul style="line-height: 1.6; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Scandal" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.1</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Scandal</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Public_image" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.2</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Public image</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Fannie_Mae_and_Freddie_Mac" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.3</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Subprime_Mortgage_crisis" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.4</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Subprime Mortgage crisis</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Committee_assignments" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">3.3</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Committee assignments</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Political_positions_and_votes" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Political positions and votes</span></font></a><ul style="line-height: 1.6; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Abortion" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4.1</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Abortion</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Civil_rights" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4.2</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Civil rights</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Crime" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4.3</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Crime</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Drugs" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4.4</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Drugs</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Economic_issues" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4.5</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Economic issues</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Environment" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4.6</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Environment</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-18" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Military" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4.7</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Military</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-19" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Online_gambling" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4.8</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Online gambling</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-20" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Relations_with_Israel" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4.9</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Relations with Israel</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-21" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Post-House_career" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">5</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Post-House career</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-22" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Personal_life" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">6</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Personal life</span></font></a><ul style="line-height: 1.6; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-23" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Sexuality" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">6.1</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Sexuality</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-24" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Electoral_history" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">7</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Electoral history</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-25" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Books" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">8</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Books</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-26" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Bibliography" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">9</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Bibliography</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-27" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Notes" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">10</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Notes</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-28" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#References" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">11</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">References</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-29" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#External_links" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">12</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">External links</span></font></a><ul style="line-height: 1.6; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-30" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#Articles" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">12.1</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Articles</span></font></a></li></ul></li></ul></div><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mw-headline" id="Early_life.2C_education.2C_and_early_career"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Early life, education, and early career</font></span></h2></div><div><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">....</font></span></div><div><span class="mw-headline"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman">As former chairman of the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Financial_Services" title="United States House Committee on Financial Services" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">House Financial Services Committee</a>, beginning in 2007, Frank was "at the center of power".<sup id="cite_ref-Advocate_18-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-Advocate-18" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[18]</a></sup>&nbsp;Frank has been a critic of aspects of the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System" title="Federal Reserve System" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Federal Reserve</a>&nbsp;system, partnering with some Republicans in opposition to some policies.<sup id="cite_ref-nytimesmagazine_50-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-nytimesmagazine-50" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[50]</a></sup>&nbsp;Frank says that he and Republican Congressman&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Paul" title="Ron Paul" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Ron Paul</a>&nbsp;"first bonded because we were both conspicuous nonworshipers at the Temple of the Fed and of the High Priest&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Greenspan" title="Alan Greenspan" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Alan Greenspan</a>."<sup id="cite_ref-nytimesmagazine_50-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-nytimesmagazine-50" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[50]</a></sup></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Frank has been involved in mortgage foreclosure bailout issues.<sup id="cite_ref-Loan_Mod_51-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-Loan_Mod-51" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[51]</a></sup>&nbsp;In 2008 Frank supported passage of the American Housing Rescue & Foreclosure Prevention Act, intended to protect thousands of homeowners from&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreclosure" title="Foreclosure" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">foreclosure</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Advocate_18-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-Advocate-18" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[18]</a></sup>&nbsp;This law,&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-bill/3221" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">H.R. 3221</a>, is considered one of the most important and complex issues on which he worked.<sup id="cite_ref-Advocate_18-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-Advocate-18" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[18]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-52" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-52" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[52]</a></sup>&nbsp;In an August 2007 op-ed piece in&nbsp;<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Times" title="Financial Times" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Financial Times</a></i>, Frank wrote, "In the debate between those who believe in essentially&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market" title="Free market" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">unregulated markets</a>&nbsp;and others who hold that&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulated_market" title="Regulated market" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">reasonable regulation</a>&nbsp;diminishes market excesses without inhibiting their basic function, the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis" title="Subprime mortgage crisis" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">subprime situation</a>&nbsp;unfortunately provides ammunition for the latter view."<sup id="cite_ref-53" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-53" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[53]</a></sup>&nbsp;Frank was also instrumental in the passage of&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-bill/5244" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">H.R. 5244</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_Cardholders%27_Bill_of_Rights" title="Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights</a>&nbsp;Act of 2008, a measure that drew praise from editorial boards and consumer advocates.<sup id="cite_ref-54" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-54" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[54]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-55" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-55" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[55]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-56" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-56" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[56]</a></sup>&nbsp;In 2007. Frank co-sponsored legislation to reform the Section 202 refinancing program, which is for affordable housing for the elderly, and Section 811 disabled programs.<sup id="cite_ref-57" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-57" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[57]</a></sup>&nbsp;Frank has been a chief advocate of the National Housing Trust Fund,<sup id="cite_ref-Toobin_7-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-Toobin-7" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a></sup>&nbsp;which was created as part of the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_and_Economic_Recovery_Act_of_2008" title="Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008</a>and was the first affordable housing program to be enacted by the Congress since 1990.<sup id="cite_ref-58" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-58" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[58]</a></sup></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">During the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis" title="Subprime mortgage crisis" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">subprime mortgage crisis</a>, Frank was characterized as "a key deal-maker, an unlikely bridge between his party's&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-wing_politics" title="Left-wing politics" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">left-wing</a>&nbsp;base and [...]&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market" title="Free market" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">free market</a>&nbsp;conservatives" in the Bush administration.<sup id="cite_ref-ALWBB_59-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-ALWBB-59" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[59]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-60" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-60" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[60]</a></sup>&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Paulson" title="Henry Paulson" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Hank Paulson</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_the_Treasury" title="United States Secretary of the Treasury" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">U.S. Treasury Secretary</a>&nbsp;for the Bush administration, said he enjoyed Frank's penchant for brokering deals, "he is looking to get things done and make a difference, he focuses on areas of agreement and tries to build on those."<sup id="cite_ref-ALWBB_59-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-ALWBB-59" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[59]</a></sup></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">The New York Times</a></i>&nbsp;noted that the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Housing_Administration" title="Federal Housing Administration" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Federal Housing Administration</a>'s crucial role in the nation's housing market, providing low-down-payment mortgages during the crisis of 2007–2010 when no mortgages would otherwise have been available, "helped avert full-scale disaster" by helping people purchase or refinance homes and thereby putting a floor under falling home prices. However, due to the tighter flow of credit from the banks, total FHA loans in 2009 were four times that of 2006, raising concern that year that if the economy were to dip back into recession, more Fed funds could be required to keep those loans afloat. Frank's response was that the additional defaults&nbsp;— 2.2% more of the total portfolio in 2009 than the year before&nbsp;— were worth the economic stabilization of the broader policy, noting "It was an effort to keep prices from falling too fast." In that context, he opined, "I don't think it's a bad thing that the bad loans occurred." In fact, the unprecedented number of loans made since 2008 were noted to be performing far better than those in the prior two years.<sup id="cite_ref-61" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank#cite_note-61" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[61]</a></sup></p></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Barney Frank has a new autobiography out. He’s long been one of the nation’s most quotable politicians. And Washington lives in perpetual longing for intra-party conflict.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">So why has a critical revelation from Frank’s book, one that implicates the most powerful Democrat in the nation, been entirely expunged from the record? The media has thus far focused on Frank’s&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-frank-by-barney-frank-1427661326" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">wrestling with being a closeted gay congressman</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><span class="print-footnote" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[3]</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, or his&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/barney-frank-joe-biden-no-discipline-116360.html" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">comment</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><span class="print-footnote" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[4]</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;that Joe Biden “can’t keep his mouth shut or his hands to himself.” But nobody has focused on Frank’s allegation that Barack Obama refused to extract foreclosure relief from the nation’s largest banks, as a condition for their receipt of hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout money.</span></font><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The anecdote comes on page 295 of “Frank,” a title that the former chair of the House Financial Services Committee holds true to throughout the book. The TARP legislation included specific instructions to use a section of the funds to prevent foreclosures. Without that language, TARP would not have passed; Democratic lawmakers who helped defeat TARP on its first vote&nbsp;<a href="http://openleft.com/diary/8815/" style="">cited the foreclosure mitigation piece</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[5]</span>&nbsp;as key to their eventual reconsideration.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TARP was doled out in two tranches of $350 billion each. The Bush administration, still in charge during TARP’s passage in October 2008, used none of the first tranche on mortgage relief, nor did Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson use any leverage over firms receiving the money to persuade them to lower mortgage balances and prevent foreclosures. Frank made his anger clear over this ignoring of Congress’ intentions at a hearing with Paulson that November. Paulson argued in his defense, “the imminent threat of financial collapse required him to focus single-mindedly on the immediate survival of financial institutions, no matter how worthy other goals were.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Whether or not you believe that sky-is-falling narrative, Frank kept pushing for action on foreclosures, which by the end of 2008 threatened one in 10 homes in America. With the first tranche of TARP funds running out by the end of the year, Frank writes, “Paulson agreed to include homeowner relief in his upcoming request for a second tranche of TARP funding. But there was one condition: He would only do it if the President-elect asked him to.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Frank goes on to explain that Obama rejected the request, saying “we have only one president at a time.” Frank writes, “my frustrated response was that he had overstated the number of presidents currently on duty,” which equally angered both the outgoing and incoming officeholders.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Obama’s unwillingness to take responsibility before holding full authority doesn’t match other decisions made at that time. We know from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/10/david-axelrod-obama_n_6649688.html" style="">David Axelrod’s book</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[6]</span>&nbsp;that the Obama transition did urge the Bush administration to provide TARP loans to GM and Chrysler to keep them in business. So it was OK to help auto companies prior to Inauguration Day, just not homeowners.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the end, the Obama transition&nbsp;<a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/Summersletter11509.pdf" style="">wrote a letter</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[7]</span>&nbsp;promising to get to the foreclosure relief later, if Congress would only pass the second tranche of TARP funds. Congress fulfilled its obligation, and the Administration didn’t. The promised foreclosure mitigation efforts&nbsp;<a href="http://prospect.org/article/needless-default" style="">failed to help</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[8]</span>, and in many cases abjectly hurt homeowners.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is not a new charge from Frank: he first leveled it&nbsp;<a href="http://nymag.com/print/?/news/features/barney-frank-full-transcript-2012-4/" style="">in May 2012</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[9]</span>&nbsp;in an interview with&nbsp;New York&nbsp;magazine. Nobody in the Obama Administration has ever denied the anecdote, but of course hardly anybody bothered to publicize it, save for a couple&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/barney-frank-obama-rejected-bush-administration-concession-to-write-down-mortgages.html" style="">financial blogs</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[10]</span>. I suppose those&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/books/review/frank-barney-franks-memoir.html" style="">reviewing</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[11]</span>&nbsp;”Frank” can offer an excuse about this being “old news,” but that claims suffers from the “tree falling in the forest” syndrome: if a revelation is made in public, and no journalist ever elevates it, did it make a sound?</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The political media’s allergy to policy is a clear culprit here. Jamie Kirchick’s&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-frank-by-barney-frank-1427661326" style="">blanket statement</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[3]</span>&nbsp;in his review of “Frank” that “readers’ eyes will glaze over” at the recounting of the financial crisis is a typical attitude. But millions of people suffered needlessly for Wall Street’s sins; they’d perhaps be interested in understanding why.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That’s the main reason why the significance of Obama’s decision cannot be overstated. The fact that we waited six years to get some semblance of a decent economic recovery traces back directly to the&nbsp;<a href="http://prospect.org/article/needless-default" style="">failure to alleviate the foreclosure crisis</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[8]</span>. Here was a moment, right near the beginning, when both public money and leverage could have been employed to stop foreclosures. Instead of demanding homeowner help when financial institutions relied on massive government support, the Administration passed, instead prioritizing nursing banks back to health and then asking them to give homeowners a break, which the banks predictably declined.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There were no structural or legislative barriers to this proposition. One man, Barack Obama, could tell another man, Henry Paulson, to tighten the screws on banks to write down loans, and something would have happened. Would it have been successful? Would it have saved tens or hundreds of billions in damage to homeowners? Even trillions? Or would Paulson and his predecessors found a way to wriggle out of the commitment again? We know the alternative failed, so it’s tantalizing to think about this road not taken.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This still matters because, as City University of New York professor Alan White&nbsp;<a href="http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2015/03/foreclosure-crisis-update.html" style="">explained brilliantly</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[12]</span>&nbsp;over the weekend, the foreclosure crisis isn’t really over. Though&nbsp;<a href="http://www.creditslips.org/files/foreclosures-and-mods-public-data-summary-jan-2015.xls" style="">6 million homes</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[13]</span>&nbsp;have been lost to foreclosure since 2007, another 1 million remain in the pipeline, many of them legacy loans originated during the housing bubble. If you properly compare the situation to a time before the widespread issuance of subprime mortgages, we’re still well above normal levels of foreclosure starts.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.zillow.com/research/negative-equity-2014-q4-9223/" style="">over one in six homes</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[14]</span>&nbsp;remain underwater, where the mortgage is bigger than the value of the home, a dangerous situation if we hit another economic downturn. And up to 4 million homes face interest rate resets from temporary modifications, along with nontraditional mortgages where the rate is scheduled to go up. Home equity lines of credit are also nearing their 10-year limits, requiring borrowers to pay down principal balances. Some Americans have been waiting&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/30/business/foreclosure-to-home-free-as-5-year-clock-expires.html" style="">over five years</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[15]</span>&nbsp;in foreclosure limbo, which sounds great (no payments!) until you understand the stress and anxiety associated with not knowing if you will get thrown out on the street at any time, something highly correlated with&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Foreclosures-can-make-you-sick-report-says-3254499.php" style="">sickness</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[16]</span>&nbsp;and even&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/27/the-financial-crisis-may-have-been-to-blame-for-a-sudden-spike-in-middle-age-suicides/" style="">suicides</a>&nbsp;<span class="print-footnote" style="">[17]</span>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In baseball terms, we’re in the seventh or eighth inning of the crisis. And Barney Frank detailed how the president-elect had the opportunity to call the game and fix the problem much earlier, which he turned down. You’d think someone would have noticed.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></p><div class="bio-new body_economy" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="author-bio"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Dayen is a contributing writer to Salon who also writes for The New Republic, The American Prospect, Politico, The Guardian and other publications. He lives in Los Angeles.</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div></div>