On FOIA of Circle Rubber Stamped Charter OCC Released Redacted Deck only after Appeal

On FOIA of Circle Rubber Stamped Charter OCC Released Redacted Deck only after Appeal by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack SOUTH BRONX/SDNY, July 10  – With the US Congress passing the cryptocurrency GENIUS Act, Ripple Labs as well as Circle and others, have applied for banking charters to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.   On July 10, 2026 not the OCC but Circle announced the OCC's approval: "OCC approval to ‌establish Circle National ⁠Trust marks a defining step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets into the core ⁠of the U.S. financial system," Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said in a statement.    Inner City Press asked the IMF about the GENIUS Act on July 24, 2025. Later on July 24, the OCC responded to its FOIA request for communications related to Circle's proposal by stating "[p]lease provide the email addresses of Circle's counsel as well as the specific OCC personnel whose correspondence you would like for us to search.     This was a travesty: it is the OCC which knows the identity and address of applicant Circle's counsel, and of the OCC personnel. Now the OCC has gotten even worse, denying Inner City Press' request for expedited processing of its FOIA request for predatory lender OppFi's application to buy a national bank charter through BNC Bank.   Seeking to get the records during the comment period, Inner City Press provided what names it could. On August 21 - after closing its comment period - the OCC provided some 80 pages, more than half entirely redacted. Inner City Press has immediately appealed: On this important application, after delaying until the OCC's comment period is officially closed, now the OCC withholds in full for example the slide deck Circle presented to the OCC on March 3, 2025 ("Sebastian - please see attached for today's presentation deck").  This is inappropriate. Circle is seeking approval based on this presentation; it cannot be withheld from the public in full.    It appears to consist of 26 pages, with every single word and image withheld. The OCC is required under FOIA to make public all "reasonably segregable" portions of records it claims contain withholdable portions. That was not done here (nor on the b(5) redactions, which we are also hereby appealing).    Next, the OCC withholds in full at least 16 pages after a reference to helpful questions. Note that your sister regulator the Federal Reserve specifically provides the requesting public (or Press) with questions and answers. Withholding this in full is inappropriate, particularly on an application of this import.   This appeal should be processed on an expedited basis - and the comment period should be re-opened / cannot close. On September 29 the OCC "granted in part and denied in part" Inner City Press' FOIA appeal, while saying there is no link between getting information about the application and the comment period. It released emails apologizing for head fake and asking the lawyers about another of their clients, a potential applicant - and the heavily redacted slide deck, now on Inner City Press' DocumentCloud here    Watch this site.   *** Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron. Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com Mail: Box 130222, Chinatown Station, NY NY 10013 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.  Copyright 2006-2026 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com