By Matthew R. Lee, Video, FOIA fee denial
SOUTH BRONX, SDNY, August 13 – The reporting on CIT Group's announcement it seeks to acquire Mutual of Ohama's bank and 26 branches on August 13 said that the proposed acquisition would be "the first major transaction for CIT Group since its sale of its Financial Freedom reverse mortgage servicing business and the related reverse mortgage portfolio to an undisclosed buyer." Forgotten or airbrushed out in this is CIT's controversial, some say fraudulently promoted, acquisition of now US Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting's One West Bank. It, like that proposal, may well be challenged - watch this site.
With Comptroller Otting moving to undermine the US Community Reinvestment Act, in June 2019 he denied access to documents about whom he meets with which Inner City Press requested back in January 2019. This while he had made the OCC start rejecting timely CRA comments on mergers and on Fifth Third's lateral move to the less regulated OCC charter, asserting that he has unfettered discretion to consider such comments.
Now in August Otting has issued an Orwellian summary of a visit to Atlanta ostensibly to help the CRA be more transparent: "WASHINGTON — Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting, today visited Atlanta to tour neighborhoods that have benefitted from activities encouraged by the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and areas that could benefit from additional CRA activity. “Today, we saw what great things can be accomplished when banks, civil rights organizations, nonprofit groups, and local advocates work together to meet the needs of their communities,” Comptroller Otting said following the tour. “We also discussed how current CRA regulations hamstring efforts that could revitalize these areas and bring even more lending, investment, and service to where they are needed most.” The Comptroller was joined on the tour by John Hope Bryant, CEO and Founder of Operation HOPE, Ambassador and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, and representatives from area community groups, redevelopment organizations, and banks. The group began their tour of Atlanta from the Martin Luther King Sr. Community Resources Collaborative and visited a HOPE Inside office at [a shopping center]... “The places we visited today confirm how CRA has been a force for good for the past 40 years,” the Comptroller said. “Our goal now is to strengthen CRA so that it continues to encourage the flow of billions of dollars into our communities and neighborhoods each year. We can modernize CRA regulations to encourage banks to do even more by clarifying what counts for CRA credit, updating where activity qualifies, making evaluations of bank CRA performance more objective, and reporting results in a more timely and transparent manner.” More transparent? From a man who withholds all his information, after generating fake comments to support the cash out merger of One West when he ran it? And which unnamed banks were along on this tour?
After first denying a Freedom of Information Act fee waiver for these documents, and now for all bank merger applications is obvious retaliation, on June 20 the OCC wrote to Inner City Press:
"Dear Mr.Lee: This is in response to your letter dated January 16, 2019, which was received in my office on January 17, 2019 for processing under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552. You requested copies of records sufficient to show all of Comptroller Otting's scheduled meetings, appointments, and scheduled events from the date he became Comptroller to the date of your response including but not limited to Outlook calendar entries and daily briefing books for Comptroller Otting on those dates. You seek records of any kind, including paper records, electronic records, audiotapes, videotapes, photographs, data, and graphical material. Our determination concerning your request is as follows:
1. Mr. Otting’s Calendar is published on the OCC’s Website in the Electronic Reading Room located at www.occ.gov. Certain entries have been deleted under the authority of 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(2) and 12 C.F.R. (b)(2), related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency which covers confirmation numbers, ticket numbers, dialin numbers and PIN codes for telephone conferences; 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(5) and 12 C.F.R. 4.12(b)(5) inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency which are considered deliberative in nature; 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(6) and 12 C.F.R. 4.12(b)(6), personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy which covers personal, non-government issued telephone cell phone numbers; and, 5 U.S.C. 552 (b)(8) and 12 C.F.R. 4.12(b)(8), contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions;.
2. Briefing books or materials submitted to the Comptroller in preparation for meetings appearing on his calendar and are marked “MATERIALS ATTACHED” are withheld under the authority of 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(5) and 12 C.F.R. 4.12(b)(5) inter-agency or intraagency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency, which is consistent with Department of Justice policy.
3. The OCC does not capture audiotapes or videotapes of meetings.
4. Telephone messages made to the Comptroller are also not captured.
5. The OCC does not maintain transcripts.
6. Handwritten notes are not maintained by the Comptroller or the OCC. 7. The OCC does not sweep the personal email accounts of its employees.
8. A Vaughan index is not required to be produced at the administrative level of processing FOIA requests.
2. Briefing books or materials submitted to the Comptroller in preparation for meetings appearing on his calendar and are marked “MATERIALS ATTACHED” are withheld under the authority of 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(5) and 12 C.F.R. 4.12(b)(5) inter-agency or intraagency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency, which is consistent with Department of Justice policy.
3. The OCC does not capture audiotapes or videotapes of meetings.
4. Telephone messages made to the Comptroller are also not captured.
5. The OCC does not maintain transcripts.
6. Handwritten notes are not maintained by the Comptroller or the OCC. 7. The OCC does not sweep the personal email accounts of its employees.
8. A Vaughan index is not required to be produced at the administrative level of processing FOIA requests.
Once you have reviewed the calendars for Mr. Otting and have identified specific topics you you’d like to review, please submit a targeted FOIA request and we will once again search our records. Please note that you requested a fee waiver that I denied. This was because the basis for your fee waiver did not constitute an official reason as set forth in our regulations to justify a fee waiver. Upon receive a request for possibly vast amounts of data, you need to adequately justify any such request for a fee waiver. Due to the volume of requests the OCC is now receiving, each request for a fee waiver is being scrutinized very closely and such waivers are not automatic. Additionally, keep in mind that the less targeted a FOIA request is, and the possible large amount of data that must be gathered and reviewed, the less likely a request for expedited processing will be granted. It is just physically impossible."
Impossible for an ex-banker turned regulator, gone rogue. Otting has also denied access to documents about the application to the OCC for WSFS to acquire Beneficial Bank and close 25 branches. Inner City Press requested the records months ago, along with a request for a waiver of fees as the other Federal bank regulators grant it and as the OCC has until now.
But Otting is different. First he denied a fee waiver on Inner City Press' request for his calendar. Then he relented on that, after Inner City Press citing case law and precedent. But seemingly in retaliation, he has denied access to a merger application subject to public comment. Denial here on Scribd.
And now, dated June 11 but e-mailed later, a final denial, after putting Inner City Press through three rounds of more and more detailed argumentation - just to waste its time until long after Otting rubber stamped the merger - accusing Inner City Press of not "explaining how the application submitted by WSFS would contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of the operations or activities of the OCC. As such, your request for a fee waiver is denied. Until you contact the OCC Disclosure Services office with assurance that you will pay associated fees, FOIA request # 2019-00206 will not be processed."
So the OCC thinks it can hinder public review and public comment by changing the law and its own pre-Otting practice.
