On Climate Change, Inner City Press Asks UN's Janos Pasztor of Adaptation, Global Climate Fund and HSBC, Credit Agricole

By Matthew Russell Lee 

UNITED NATIONS, November 20 -- In the run-up the the climate change talks in Paris, Inner City Press asked UN official Janos Pasztor on November 20 if commitments on adaptation funding will be increased, about corporations making sometimes dubious pledges in connection with CoP21 and specifically about requests that the Green Climate Fund not accredit HSBC or Credit Agricole, given their track records.

  Pasztor earnestly answered the questions, though he said he was unaware of the request to the GCF about the two banks (see here); he also said that while the march planned in Paris for November 29 has been canceled by the government, marches can be held elsewhere - in other countries.

   Agence France Presse, before other journalists got even one question, cut in with repeated “follow-ups.” France is branding CoP21, while now limited civil society participation - except for corporations.

  Relatedly, when the UNFCCC held a press conference in Bonn earlier in the week, the corporate media in the room had no questions, then few questions. But the selection of questions submitted by social media trended toward Thomson Reuters Foundation and the Climate Group; press questions submitted by Twitter and email were never answered. We'll have more on this.

On October 13 Inner City Press asked Pasztor about criticism of the OECD's claims about developed countries' progress toward $100 billion in 2020, and about the IMF's or Christine Lagarde's call for a carbon tax.Video here.

  Pasztor replied that at the meeting in Peru, finance ministers had raised questions about the OECD's methodology, which he said the OECD Secretary General had responded to. He called Lagarde's proposals “an important way that countries can address this issue.”

  Back on September 21 the 2015 Equator Prize winners were announced at a UN press conference featuring Alec Baldwin and Hilaria Baldwin, UNDP's Helen Clark and UNFCCC's Christiana Figueres, about whose 3 degree Celsius prediction Inner City Press asked last week.

 Inner City Press asked Figueres about her fellow UN official Janos Pasztor's prediction that current Intended Nationally Determined Contributions would equate to 3.5 degrees. She did not disagree; UNDP's Helen Clark said the INDCs are not ambitious enough yet.  

  Given UNDP's direct work with governments, Inner City Press asked Helen Clark about, for example, the Democratic Republic of the Congo being accuses of going soft on illegal logging, for example on Lebanese-owned firm Cotrefor. Video here.

  Alec Baldwin cited Canadian tar sands, and also ExxonMobil (earlier on September 21, Inner City Press asked about BNP Paribas funding coal power plants). Climate Week began... 

  Inner City Press on September 17 asked UN's Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change Janos Pasztor whether INDCs to date would raised temperatures by 3 degrees Celsius, as Christiana Figueres has said, or 2.5 degree as the Guardian has an unnamed UK official saying.Video here.

  Pasztor's answer to Inner City Press included "3.5 degrees;" Figueres' spokesperson chimes in this is the difference between frying and cooking. But who was the Guardian's anonymous "merely warming" source?

  Amina Mohammed, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning, spoke about financing issues, on which Inner City Press asked about how to count if the $100 billion goal is reached by 2020. 

Back on August 11 after the climate change announcement of Australia, Inner City Press on August 11 asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it, video here, transcript here:

Inner City Press: in the statement about the countries coming out with their climate change targets, Australia came out with one.  It's sort of become a touchstone, many people are saying there's no way it would lead to 2°C…

Spokesman Dujarric:  First of all, we very much welcome countries that issue their INDC.  It's an important step, and we very much hope that all Member States will do so.  They really need to be seen as a floor and not a ceiling.  They're a starting point.  There will be discussions prior to Paris.  There will, obviously, be discussions in Paris.  People are free to, obviously, express their opinion on certain countries' INDCs, but for our part, we're glad we have them, and we do see them as a starting point in the discussions.

Back on June 18 when the UN gave a climate change briefing by UNDP's Cassie Flynn, and Jo Scheuer, on June 18 Inner City Press asked about the under-funding of the Least Development Countries Fund, and if South Korea is backsliding in its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions. Video here.

  The answers, on film, were to promote other funding vehicles, and to say that South Korea has still yet to file its INDC.

Back on June 4 the UN's Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change Janos Pasztor held a press conference and Inner City Press asked him about unspent funds at the Clean Development Mechanism in Bonn, and about reported backsliding by South Korea on its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions on greenhouse gas reduction.

  Pasztor said that the CDM is still needed; he said country have committed not to backslide. Video here. (South Korea had yet to submit its INDCs, it seems). Inner City Press asked Pasztor to provide a comment, if he has one, once South Korea's filing is made.

Back on May 5, Inner City Press asked him about criticism of the Green Climate Fund, including at the recent Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Video here and embedded below.

  Specifically, why will the "Green" Climate Fund provide financial for coal-powered plants? Pasztor replied that some felt that an exclusion for coal would have been divisive. On statements at the PFII that the UN is helping to "monetize" nature, Pasztor replied that most states feel differently. But what about the indigenous?
  
  Pasztor in his opening statement had praised the UN Pension Fund for now investing in "green equities" and "green bonds." Since the UN has responded to Press questions about irregularities alleged at the Pension Fund by emphasizing how separate and independent it is, Inner City Press asked Pazstor if the UN Secretariat had brought about this Pension Fund decision.

 Pazstor replied that the Pension Fund answers to the Secretary General and that "she" - Carolyn Boykin, presumably - had made this decision. We'll have more on this, after noting Pasztor by no means the least responsive UN official...

 When last September 21 the People's Climate March assembled at Manhattan's Columbus Circle, there were anti-corporate puppets in front of the Trump International Hotel and Tower, speeches by coal miners and from the Marshall Islands.

   Many called on the UN to do better. But UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon joined the march mid-way, at Radio City Musical Hall with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. Senator Chuck Schumer was on hand, walking by a Bronx contingent chanting how Fresh Direct has broken its promises.

  Inner City Press' 90 second video of the march is here.

  The UN's or "BKM" (Ban Ki-moon) Climate Summit will feature Cargill and Walmart, Credit Agricole and Bank of America. The last of these is the first, in terms of funding mountain top coal removal. These are the contradiction. Inner City Press tweeted photos on@InnerCityPress. More to follow.

  The night before the People's Climate March, the UN buildings on First Avenue lit up with photos and footage of trees and fish and written messages. It is called "illUmiNations." Inner City Press video here.

   Inner City Press late on September 19, after covering the Ukraine,Iraq, Ebola and Iran nuclear meetings inside the UN, went out and found a sort of trial run for the screening taking place on First Avenue, alreadylined with NYPD cement blocks. Photo here.

   Looking back at the UN's press release for the upcoming "VIP Press Screening" -- hard to know how they could exclude non-VIPs from it, or why they would want to -- there were laudatory quotes about UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and: 

Obscura Digital has staged similar large-scale architectural mapping projection events on the Sydney Opera House, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. For examples of previous work, please visit the following link http://wdrv.it/1tx7Emd.

 In that video compilation, well worth watching, there are also corporate projects for Coca-Cola and YouTube owned by Google, with history at the UN. 

  A message Inner City Press photographed on September 19, here,  was "In nature's economy, the currency is not money but life." Is this true of Coca-Cola?

   There are questions about the UN's UNcritical approach to corporations and corporate "partnerships."

   In the run up to the UN's September 23 Climate Summit, the UN put out a media advisory promoting the participation of 14 corporations ranging from Saudi Aramco through Cargill, McDonald's and Walmart to Bank of America and Credit Agricole. 

  Inner City Press on September 16 asked Summit promoter Robert Orr how these 14 were selected for listing in the media advisory, and if the UN had reviewed their wider record. For example, the recent court decision involving Cargill and child slavery in Cote d'Ivoire, or Saudi Aramco not allowing employees in Saudi Arabia to protest.

   Orr mentioned a luncheon during the summit about carbon pricing and the UN Global Compact, a branch of the UN which repeatedly says it does not enforce substantive standards, only encourages reporting and dialogue.  Well, Saudi Aramco did not respond to the complaint about “employees allegedly dismissed after being detained for participation in civil rights protests in Saudi Arabia.”

   And what of the environment? Bank of America has been the number one funder of mountain-top removal coal mining, but Ban Ki-moon made it chairman the chief of his Sustainable Energy for All initiative.

  On behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, Inner City Press asked that those making commitments, like the 14 corporations named, hold question and answer sessions during the summit. We'll see.

UN Corruption Association Promotes Hedge Funder's Kids' Book, UNrelevant to Press Access at UN Amid Scandals

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 13 -- With the UN embroiled in scandals including the indictments of former President of the General Assembly and Macau businessman Ng Lap Seng, one would expect the UN press corps, even the entity the UN itself chooses to set aside first questions for, to be pursuing rather than be involved in the scandals.

  But that is not the case with the UN Correspondents Association, this year more than ever. The scandals are below. But even just today, ask why a UN Correspondents Association would publicize and host in the clubhouse the UN gives it the launch of a children's book by a hedge fund executive from Italy?

 What does this have to do with the UN? Not only does UNCA not promote more access to information at the UN (after having tried to censor and eject the investigative Press) - now it promotes Italian hedge funders, with promises of wine in the afternoon.

  The UNCA announcement, provided by a disgusted member of the group in decay, says "About the author: Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff is Italian by birth." It says she has a "full-time job in financial services" -- UNCA doesn't say, but it's with multiply protested Blackrock.

 It also says she "has worked in the financial industry in Asia [HSBC, Inner City Press notes], North America and Europe.  She was named a Rising Star of Finance by Financial News, a sister company of the WSJ. She also founded ‘Cervelli in Fuga’, the website for the Italian Community overseas."

 To this has UNCA descended - even before considering the disqualifying scandals below.

   In 2011 under then-president Giampaolo Pioli, UNCA took money from the South South News of now-indicted Ng Lap Seng, then gave South South News an UNCA award and gave Ng Lap Seng a photo op with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

  Now in November 2015, Pioli has solicited $6000 from UN Ambassadors for seats at the “VIP” table at the UNCA “Ball” on Wall Street: to sit with Ban Ki-moon. This is precisely the type of sale of access involved in the indictments of Ng, Sheri Yan and Frank Lorenzo.

  While others are announcing audits and freezing such contacts, UNCA under Pioli is bulling forward, charging ever more money, getting ever further from journalistic purposes.

   On November 12 Pioli posted his photograph in the hallway outside the clubhouse the UN gives to UNCA, signifying that he is running for yet another term (this as the Security Council met about Burundi, where a third term has triggered demands for change and reform). For the three running unopposed for five president slots, two were already on the UNCA board during the relevant time period; the other is Pioli's former protege at Quotidiano Nazionale. It's an Italian thing.

   Running for Treasurer? It's Agence France Presse, whose previous correspondent tried to use a position on the UNCA board to censor Press coverage of Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row atop UN Peacekeeping.

  Reuters is in the mix, too, and another which joined Pioli in trying to censor coverage of Pioli unilaterally approving a Sri Lankan government war crimes denial film for a “UN” screening, after Pioli rented one of his apartments to Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN. This is UN. But amid the new scandals at the UN, this is something new: watch this site.

Footnote: Inner City Press after Pioli's and others censorship bid, and attempt to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN (uncovered along with documents still to be published by a Freedom of Information Act request, here, and questioned by the New York Civil Liberties Union), quit the UNCA board and co-founded, with another who'd quit UNCA as corrupt, the Free UN Coalition for Access.

 FUNCA does not seek any automatic first questions, butopposes the UN setting aside first questions for an entity which, as now shown, is enmeshed in the very UN scandals that must be asked about. Watch this site.

At UN, Praises Sung of Shell & Anglo-American by HSBC Director Moody-Stuart, Softball Questions from Global Compact and FT: Bluewashing

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 28 -- When Mark Moody-Stuart appeared against the background of the East River with Wall Street behind it on April 28, it was a UN classic event: fauxinterview, self-congratulation and critical questions not taken.

Moody-Stuart largely sung the praises of Shell Oil and then Anglo-American. A Financial Times journalist was brought it to toss soft ball questions and then pick, along with a UN Global Compact staffer, questions from the floor.

These consisted of questions like, How can you expand the Global Compact, and what do responsible companies like Shell do with corrupt governments? One chosen questioner didn't himself disclose that he is on a board of the Global Compact; another was a UN official.

Inner City Press indicated that it wanted to ask a question, even directly approached the question-distributor, who nodded. But no question was ever allowed. When it ended and Inner City Press walked out, a "business and ethics" scribe approached saying he had interviewed Moody-Stuart at some length earlier in the day. Inner City Press asked: did you ask about the global financial meltdown caused by predatory lending? Apparently not.

It should be noted that the UN uses as its bank JP Morgan Chase, even as a draft resolution by the Group of 77 circulated condemning Chase for essentially diplomatic redlining. Critical questions were not taken: there were a stack of books to be promoted, and a lot of backs to be patted. 

  There may have been some improvements at the Global Compact, such as a described working group on remittances that might address such issues as Barclays' Somalia cut off.  But this type of controlled Q&A and self congratulation is indicative of continued blue-washing. Watch this site.

   

In Post Subprime Circus, Hedge Funds Paulson & Carlyle Gun for Fannie, Raj Date Cashes In, Mel Watt as a Chip

By Matthew Russell Lee

Following the Money, June 7 -- Even as the predatory lending meltdown continues to reverberate, from HSBC's scam foreclosures to Wells Fargo's discriminatory follow-through on the buildings that it's seized, from Wall Street to Washington the games continue.

  Hedge funds that profited on the way down from the collapses, for example Paulson & Company, the Carlyle Group's Claren Road Asset Management and Perry Capital, are now buying up the preferred shares of Fannie Mae with a eye to taking it private.

  They are buying in the markets, with little disclosure or oversight, and lobbying in DC. Also in the mix is James Millstein, "fixer" of AIG, now ready to cash in through, what else, Milstein & Company.

  On the other side, Fannie Mae has become a grab-bag, with fees imposed on mortgages for entirely unrelated government goals. Who wouldn't want such a pinata?

  Meanwhile a former Deutsche Banker who went to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Raj Date, has now left to start his own firm to make money off the crisis. Fenway Summer, he spins it. He's said to advise McKinsey & Company too. The fox, it turns out, was watching the hen house.

 Inner City Press previously dueled with Carlyle's spin-machine on Jay Powell's nomination to the Federal Reserve Board, here.

A nomination floated that please Obama's base, Mel Watt for FHFA, turns out to be trading chip, and Watt to be more pro industry even that the man in place. He represents Bank of America's district, the same Bank of America targeted for Wells-like disparities. The White House has been pitching: Mel because of who he is could do things that others could. Viewed through this PRISM, can you hear me now?

And so: what's been learned? Very little. As the song goes, it's all about the money. Watch this site.

In 2012 Subprime Lending Disparities Continued at Key Bank, Suntrust and US Bank, Denials at TD, Regions and Others as Fed Lax

By Matthew R. Lee

SOUTH BRONX NY, April 7, 2013 -- In its second study of the just-released 2012 mortgage lending data, Inner City Press and Bronx-based Fair Finance Watch have found that a range of regional banks including KeyCorp, US Bank NA and SunTrust Mortgage continued with high cost loans and disparities by race and ethnicity in denials and higher-cost lending.

  2012 is the ninth year in which the data distinguishes which loans are higher cost, over a federally-defined rate spread of 1.5 percent over Treasury bill yields.

The just released data show that KeyCorp confined African Americans to higher-cost loans above this rate spread 2.51 times more frequently than whites in 2012, Fair Finance Watch has found. 

  KeyCorp denied the applications of African Americans 1.76 times more frequently than those of whites.

  KeyCorp confined Latinos to higher-cost loans above the rate spread 1.53 times more frequently than whites in 2012, the data show. It denied the applications of Latinos 1.44 times more frequently than those of whites.

  SunTrust Mortgage confined African Americans to higher-cost loans above this rate spread 2.50 times more frequently than whites in 2012; for Latinos its disparity was 1.50.

  US Bank NA confined African Americans to higher-cost loans above this rate spread 1.74 times more frequently than whites in 2012; for Latinos its disparity was 1.97. There are some irregularities in US Bank NA's data that Inner City Press will be further raising.

“Even after the bailouts, lending disparities grew worse and not better," said Fair Finance Watch. "Regulatory laxity, at least on fair lending, has continued despite the financial meltdown caused by predatory lending."

  In 2012, Toronto Dominion or TD Bank denied the applications of African Americans 1.75 times more frequently than those of whites. For both PNC and Regions the disparity for African Americans was 1.57.

  "The Federal Reserve is becoming more and more bank-friendly, including with recent Freedom of Information Act appeal denials by Governor Jay Power, formerly a hedge funder and Deutsche Bank official Jay Powell. It remains unclear if the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will get to this problem," Fair Finance Watch continued. "The disparities in the 2012 mortgage data of these banks further militate for aggressively watchdogging and breaking up these banks."

Instead, the Fed allowed the creation of a fifth mega-bank in Capital One when it acquired ING DIRECT and the subprime assets of HSBC. In 2012, Fair Finance Watch has found, HSBC denied the applications of African Americans 1.34 times more frequently than those of whites.

Also in 2012, fully 9.93 percent of Capital One's morgage loans to African American were higher cost loans, versus 7.61 percent of Capital One's loans to whites. To Latinos, the percentage was even higher: 10.31 percent.

And so Fair Finance Watch and Inner City Press have re-doubled watchdogging. Last week it studied the 2012 lending of the “Big Four” -- Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase,Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

The data show that Citigroup confined African Americans to higher-cost loans above this rate spread 2.09 times more frequently than whites in 2012, Fair Finance Watch found.

Citigroup confined Latinos to higher-cost loans above the rate spread 1.83 times more frequently than whites in 2012, the data show.

For JPMorgan Chase, the disparity for African Americans in 2012 was 1.7; for Bank of America it was 1.61; for the largest of Wells Fargo's many HMDA data reporters, the disparity for African Americans in 2011 was up to 2.32.

Challenged by the groups in 2012 and still pending are applications by Customers Bancorp and by M&T, to acquire Hudson City Savings Bank.

Regulators had allowed Hudson City in 2011, for conventional home purchase loans in the New York City Metropolitan Statistical Area, to make 765 such loans to whites and only FIVE to African Americans (and only 44 to Latinos). Meanwhile, Hudson City denied the applications of African Americans 3.21 times more frequently then those of whites.

In March 2013 Inner City Press and Fair Finance Watch began a challenge to Investors Bancorp's application to acquire Roma. In the NYC MSA in 2011 for conventional home purchase loans, Investors Bank made 220 such loans to whites, and only TWO such loans to African Americans. Its denial rate for Latinos was FIVE TIMES higher than for whites.

 On April 5, Investors Bancorp announced it will try to also acquire $300 million Gateway Community Financial Corp - this also will be opposed, on the current record.

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act required that the 2012 data be provided by March 31, following March 1 joint requests by Fair Finance Watch and Inner City Press. Several banks still did not provide their data by the deadline, despite confirming receipt of the request. Further studies will follow: watch this site.

As IMF Tells Bangladesh How to Regulate Banks, Insiders Rush for Licenses

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 11 -- While the International Monetary Fund often insists it does not impose conditions on loans, for the $1 billion program it announced Wednesday for Bangladesh, it required among other things lower fuel subsidies, and centralizing bank regulation.

Inner City Press asked David Cowen, IMF Mission Chief for Bangladesh, about this bank regulation condition, and about the rush by Bank Bangladesh to give licenses to nine new banks chartered by political insiders, on the eve of the IMF decision.

Cowen described the required amendments to the Bank Companies Act, for "fit criteria for bank directors," and said that the IMF was aware of the recent license grants, and hadn't had the chance to discuss them with Bangladesh authorities.

He said regular procedures for licensing new banks had been followed -- indeed -- and that the banks should be subject to the regulations applicable to all banks in Bangladesh.

Here's a description of the six most recent banks and their sponsors:

"former president and Jatiya Party chief H.M. Ershad (Union Bank), ruling party lawmakers Fazle Noor Taposh (Modhumati Bank) and Mohiuddin Khan Al Amgir (Farmers Bank), S.M. Amjad Hussain (South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce Bank) and Ashequr Rahman (Meghna Bank) and Moniruzzaman Khan Khandaker (Midland Bank), the income tax lawyer to Shaikh Hasina."

What was that again, about "fit criteria for bank directors"?

Meanwhile HSBC is trying either to sell its 13 Bangladesh branches, reportedly to Standard Chartered, or simply to close them by some accounts.

On April 10 HSBC announced it is in talks to sell off its operations in Pakistan and is moving in on a sale of its South Korean businesses to the Korea Development Bank.

Beyond Bangladesh, other Asian markets where HSBC has fewer than 20 branches are Brunei Darussalam, Macao, New Zealand, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Watch this site.

As Capital One Eyes HSBC's Predatory Credit Cards, Federal Reserve Tries to Sweep ING & Violations Under Carpet

By Matthew R. Lee

SOUTH BRONX, August 10 -- Now that Capital One has announced it seeks to buy the US credit card business of HSBC, much of which HSBC bought from predatory lender Household International with very little regulatory review, it becomes clearer that the US Federal Reserve Board must hold public hearings on Capital One.

When Capital One applied to the Fed to acquire ING Direct, the US Internet banking subsidiary of Amsterdam-based ING, community groups like ours around the country and Washington-based NCRC began to file protests, based on Capital One's anti-consumer practices.

But the impending addition to Capital One of the predatory lending platform HSBC bought along with Household International, while Household was being pursued by state Attorneys General around the country, would make matters worse.

With these two acquisitions, Capital One could become a fifth "too big to fail" bank in the US, after JP Morgan Chase,Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. The anachronistic gang in Capital One's television ads, along with Alec Baldwin, may be funny, but less so if considered too big to fail, possibly requiring bailouts.

Currently, the Federal Reserve says that the public has only until August 22 to comment on Capital One, and only on the ING Direct proposal. This is akin to segmenting a destructive project into separate pieces so the overall impact is never acknowledged or reviewed.

In initial comments to the Fed, prior to today's HSBC announcement, less has been said about ING, in part because ING's US business had been directed at a more affluent clientele, and because ING was not viewed as the applicant.

But after Inner City Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Federal Reserve Board on July 22, a partial response from the Federal Reserve shows that ING has quietly sought a ruling from Fed General Counsel Scott Alvarez that ING should not have submit any application subject to public comment to own up to 9.9% of Capital One. Click here to view the Fed's (first) FOIA partial denial letter, from which Inner City Press has already appealed.

This would exclude public comment and consideration of ING doing business with the likes of Sudan, Iran, Cuba, Syria and others on the US state sponsors of terrorism list. ING had admitted being under investigation for, and negotiating with the US Department of Justice about, such violations, and there have been expressions of Congressional concern, which the Fed could ignore by granting ING's stealth request.

The documents obtained under FOIA show that ING, represented by the Wall Street law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, on July 15 wrote to the Fed's Alvarez asking for "written confirmation that [ING] will not be deemed to directly or indirectly 'control' Capital One for purposes of the Bank Holding Company Act upon the consummation of the Bank Sale."

Earlier in ING's 13 page request, on which the Fed has until now not solicited or accepted any public comment, ING says that the shares with which Capital One would pay it for ING Direct would "represent between 9.7% and 9.9% of the outstanding shares of Capital One's Common Stock on the closing date." Click here to view some of the released records, including Sullivan & Cromwell's letter to the Fed for ING.

Under the Bank Holding Company Act, any holding over 4.9% can be considered control. One would think, given the issues raised, that the Fed would solicit comment and hold the requested public hearings on ING's request to own nearly 10% of Capital One. But it has only come about because of the Fed's partial FOIA response.

Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch immediately submitted a comment to the Fed and its chairman Ben Bernanke formally demanding the ING submit an application, and joining in requests by NCRC and others for public meetings and an extension of the comment periods until at least October 22.

In a FOIA appeal already filed with but not yet even acknowledged by the Fed, Inner City Press has demanded all withheld records about ING's stealth request, as well as the withhold portions of Capital One's application, which range from exhibits about money laundering to ING's mortgage portfolio.

Amazingly, the Fed mis-read Inner City Press' FOIA request as only asking from Fed communications with ING and Capital One about the proposed acquisitions, when in fact Inner City Press requested all records reflecting Fed communications concerning either of the two companies.

The Fed has provided such records, including internal Fed emails about the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and Governor Warsh's meeting with its chairman, in previous responses to Inner City Press.

The Fed has also withheld records about an "ex parte" meeting as far back at May 26 between Capital One's Kevin Murray (SVP of Regulatory Relations), John Finneran and Gary Perlin with a range of Fed officials.

It seems the Fed, ING and Capital One have already had something to hide in this transaction, including seeking to exclude from public comment and consideration ING illegally doing business in and with Syria, Iran, and Sudan. Now they seek to sweep through and under the carpet Capital One's proposed acquisition of the predatory lending platform of Household International from HSBC. But it will be opposed. Watch this site.