BANNED FROM THE BANKING INDUSTRY FOR LIFE, A SCOTT PRUITT FRIEND FINDS A NEW HOME AT THE EPA

THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Agency has tasked a banker who was banned from the banking industry for life with oversight of the nation’s Superfund program.

In May, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation fined Oklahoma banker Albert Kelly $125,000. According to a consent order, which The Intercept obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the FDIC had “reason to believe that [Kelly] violated a law or regulation, by entering into an agreement pertaining to a loan by the Bank without FDIC approval.”

Two weeks later, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt appointed Kelly to lead an effort to streamline the Superfund program. In July, the FDIC went further, banning Kelly from banking for life. The “order of prohibition from further participation” explained that the FDIC had determined Kelly’s “unfitness to serve as a director, officer, person participating in the conduct of the affairs or as an institution-affiliated party of the Bank, any other insured depository institution.”

But Pruitt, who had received loans from Kelly’s bank, apparently didn’t find Kelly’s unfitness to serve in the financial industry as disqualifying his longtime friend from serving as a top official at the EPA. Since May, Kelly, or Kell as he was known in Oklahoma, has led the effort to streamline the Superfund program — which oversees remediation of some of the country’s most toxic sites.

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Exclusive: Bank of America Merrill Lynch to pay $26 million for allegedly failing to report suspicious transactions

NEW YORK (TR Regulatory Intelligence) – Wall Street regulators later Thursday or early next week are expected to fine Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC.N) a total of $26 million over alleged failures to report suspicious transactions, two sources familiar with the matter said.

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JPMorgan Reprimanded by Swiss in 1MDB Money-Laundering Case

Switzerland’s financial regulator will conduct a detailed review of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s anti-money laundering controls after finding the bank seriously breached regulations in its dealings with Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.

The regulator, which undertook enforcement proceedings between May 2016 and June 2017, uncovered “serious shortcomings” in connection with relationships and transactions associated with 1MDB, though stopped short of fining the U.S. bank, the Swiss organization known as Finma said in a statement Thursday.

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Robins Kaplan LLP Appointed Co-Lead Counsel in Civil Action over Wells Fargo Auto Insurance Scheme

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–National trial firm Robins Kaplan LLP^® has been court appointed as co-lead counsel on behalf of plaintiffs impacted by Wells Fargo’s acknowledged practice of wrongfully charging auto loan borrowers for unnecessary and duplicative auto insurance. A report by The New York Times uncovering the bank’s misconduct indicated that more than 800,000 customers were affected, and Wells Fargo has estimated that it will provide customers with at least $130 million in cash remediation and account adjustments.

“We are eager to vindicate the rights of borrowers who have endured financial harm, repossessions, and lasting credit damage as a result of Wells Fargo’s admitted scheme,” said Kellie Lerner, a partner with Robins Kaplan’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation group in New York, who is representing the plaintiffs.

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Wells Fargo Fights Oakland’s Lending Lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — Wells Fargo on Thursday asked a federal judge to reject Oakland’s lawsuit claiming the bank’s racist lending practices cost the city millions in lost tax revenue.

“If a borrower got a bad loan, did they default because of that or because they lost their job?” Wells Fargo attorney Paul Hancock, of K and L Gates in Miami, asked during the Thursday hearing.

Oakland sued Wells Fargo in 2015, claiming the bank steered minority homebuyers into predatory loans that caused hundreds of foreclosures, lost tax revenue, and extra city spending to tackle blight and abandoned homes.

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Woman Says Bank of America Foreclosed On Her Home Despite Making Mortgage Payments

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Imagine paying your mortgage on time every month, and your bank takes your home away anyway.

It may not make any sense, but it’s happening to some homeowners.

Since 2004, Kim Shibles’ beloved home has been the backdrop for everything from holidays to proms and more.

“I would like to have back what they took,” Shibles said.

That is until she was forced out of the house in 2016, after the bank foreclosed.

“It turned my life upside down,” she said.

Her attorney, Josh Denbeaux says it happened without Shibles ever having missed a mortgage payment.

“She paid every single month,” he said.

“We have the largest financial institutions in our country and they are absolutely fleecing America,” mortgage abuse attorney Linda Tirrelli said.

It all started in 2010.

“They solicited me for a modification through the mail,” Shibles said.

Shibles said Bank of America sent her an offer she simply couldn’t refuse – the chance to modify her loan by as much as $600 a month.

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A crypto company that trolled Dimon in the Wall Street Journal got 20,000 downloads as a result

• Crypto startup Eidoo ran ad mocking Jamie Dimon in September.
• CEO says its app had 20,000 downloads on the day the ad ran.

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LONDON — The cryptocurrency startup that took out an ad in the Wall Street Journal mocking JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said it saw a big bump in downloads of its app as a result.

Eidoo ran a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal in September to fire back at JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who in September called bitcoin “a fraud” and said he would fire JPMorgan staff if he found they were trading bitcoin.

The text of the ad said: “Maybe Jamie will fire you. But you will be free to trade in the crypto world.”

Eidoo CEO Thomas Bertani told Business Insider this week that the startup’s app was downloaded around 20,000 times that day — a significant bump. The startup only hit 100,000 downloads in early November.

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Wells Fargo, accused of signing up customers for unneeded insurance, could face sanctions from state

California’s insurance regulator wants to suspend or revoke Wells Fargo & Co.’s license to sell insurance in the state after accusing the bank of setting up more than 1,400 renters insurance and life insurance policies for customers who never asked for them.

The move, announced late Tuesday, comes after the department launched an investigation last year into the San Francisco bank’s insurance brokerage business following the sham accounts scandal in response to allegations from former workers at New Jersey insurer Prudential that Wells Fargo had signed customers up for life insurance policies without their knowledge or consent.

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Trump Administration Switches Sides on Challenge to SEC Judges

• Administration will no longer defend how they are appointed
• Filing urges Supreme Court to hear investment adviser’s appeal

The Trump administration switched sides in a clash that could upend the Securities and Exchange Commission’s hearing process, telling the U.S. Supreme Court that agency judges were appointed in violation of the Constitution.

In a legal filing Wednesday, the administration said it would no longer defend a federal appeals court decision that upheld the commission’s use of in-house judges.

U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco said SEC judges are “officers,” rather than employees, making them subject to constitutional requirements about how they can be appointed. Francisco urged the high court to hear an appeal from Raymond Lucia, an investment adviser fighting a finding that he misled prospective clients.

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