Search Results for: jack lew

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: April 8, 2016  Yesterday Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, asking him to investigate potential U.S. involvement in the money laundering issues recently exposed by the leak of the Panama papers from the law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The Senators told Lew: “The Justice Department is reportedly reviewing this matter to determine whether there may be ‘high-level, foreign corruption that might have a link to the United States or the U.S. financial system.’ But, as the primary agency charged with protecting the integrity of the U.S. financial system and enforcing our laws against money laundering and terrorist financing, we strongly urge the Treasury Department to conduct its own inquiry into Mossack Fonseca’s activities and its clients.” According to journalists who have seen the documents that were leaked by an unknown source, there were 617 “banks, law … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: November 14, 2013 Prior to her testimony before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee today, Janet Yellen, President Obama’s nominee to Chair the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, was asked to take an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But nine months ago, when Jack Lew went before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing for U.S. Treasury Secretary, no such hand went in the air and no oath to tell the truth was taken. Why the disparity? The Fed Chairman directs monetary policy for the country. The U.S. Treasury Secretary pays the nation’s bills, prints its currency, oversees the collection of its taxes, and since the passage of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, chairs the Financial Stability Oversight Council (F-SOC). This is not some slouch job. Lew came to his confirmation hearing with enough conflicts of interest to … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: June 20, 2013  For the past two days, some of the priciest media real estate in America has been obsessing over the new signature that Jack Lew, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, is sporting on the nation’s currency. No less than the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, CBS News and numerous other media outlets devoted space to this trivia about Lew’s squiggly signature getting a makeover.  While this non-story was playing out, AlterNet and Wall Street On Parade co-published an investigation of New York University, where Lew served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer from 2001 to June of 2006. The New York Times printed a similar investigation on its front page yesterday.  Both investigations showed that in addition to questionable mortgage financing of primary residences for faculty, NYU was financing lavish vacation homes for both administrators and faculty. In some cases, it was … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: May 9, 2013 That shady offshore tax haven known as Ugland House in the Cayman Islands strikes again. After consuming a chunk of Jack Lew’s Senate confirmation hearing, with Senators grilling Lew on why he owned an investment housed in this offshore tax dodge while working for the Obama administration, the Cayman Islands’ address has surfaced once again in the foreclosure settlement scandal. On April 30 of this year, just 18 days after the first wave of checks from the Federal government’s settlement of the so-called Independent Foreclosure Review began arriving in the mail – and bouncing – Citigroup Venture Capital International (CVCI), Lew’s former Ugland House investment, bought a large stake in the company that was mailing the checks, SourceHOV, parent of Rust Consulting. As reported by Naked Capitalism, the ownership stake was made despite Citigroup being one of the banks in the foreclosure settlement. After correcting the humiliating problem … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: May 6, 2013  U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, whose loan dealings with New York University and acceptance of $940,000 in bonus money from taxpayer bailout funds paid to the insolvent Citigroup in early 2009 rendered him a scandalous choice for the high treasury post in the Obama administration, is fully living up to his past reputation.  Last Thursday, May 2, the U.S. Treasury released its “Daily Treasury Guidance” which lets the public know what the U.S. Treasury Secretary will be doing each day on behalf of the taxpayer who is paying his salary and on whose behalf he is supposed to be working.  The guidance for last Thursday noted that Secretary Lew would be departing Washington for New York in the afternoon “where he will attend a roundtable with business leaders hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) to discuss the state of the U.S. and global economies. This … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: April 9, 2013  The Secretary of the Treasury, Jack Lew, has been in office a mere 15 business days and has already logged more foreign travel on the taxpayers’ tab than most executive branch personnel see in a year.  Lew was sworn in on March 20, 2013. Five days later he was sitting in Beijing chatting it up with China’s President Xi Jinping. Yesterday and today, he’s flitting about Europe. His agenda includes meetings in Brussels with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro and European Commission Vice President Olli Rehn, and European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier. Lew was also scheduled to meet in Frankfurt with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.  Today, Lew heads to Berlin to have a conversation with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble. Lew’s meeting … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: March 1, 2013  Each year, millions of Americans who inherit wealth or seek to start investing for the first time, struggle with how to go about finding a competent, honest and experienced financial advisor. Having painstakingly observed for the past two weeks how the U.S. Senate went about hiring Jack Lew to be the top financial advisor to the country as Treasury Secretary, I feel there is now a very simple example millions of Americans can follow in formulating a selection process of who should manage their money: do the exact opposite of those men in Washington.  Despite enough conflicts of interests, red flags, sleazy compensation deals to repulse anyone who looked closely, the U.S. Senate voted 71-26 Wednesday to hand the keys to the U.S. Mint to Jack Lew.    But simultaneously with that vote to install the country’s financial advisor at Treasury was a no-confidence vote … Continue reading →

 By Pam Martens: February 28, 2013  The Obama administration pushed through the full Senate vote on the nomination of Jack Lew for Secretary of the Treasury late yesterday afternoon, just one day after the Senate Finance Committee voted to confirm the nomination. One suspects the rush was to prevent further details of Lew’s lavish pay packages, loans and other perks at his previous employers, New York University and bailed out bank, Citigroup, from gaining traction in the press.  But rest assured, this is no win for the President’s legacy or his party. The Democrats’ progressive base was just as adamant against Lew for U.S. Treasury Secretary as were most Republicans who took a careful look at Lew’s history.  Robert Scheer, writing at The Nation Magazine said:  “I suppose that he can’t be much worse than Timothy Geithner, but that should be scant cause for cheer over the news that the … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: February 27, 2013 As questions swirl as to why New York University, a nonprofit subsidized by the taxpayer, used endowment funds from its law school foundation to provide Treasury Secretary nominee Jack Lew with more than a million dollars in mortgage loans in 2001 and a $685,000 “severance” payment when he voluntarily left to accept a high paying job at Citigroup in 2006, the name of John Sexton has emerged as someone who was in the know about the dealings. As the document below confirms, Sexton, who has been President of NYU since 2001, signed off on the first $1,300,000 mortgage loan to Lew on August 22, 2001. The second mortgage loan by NYU to Lew in the amount of $150,000 was made later that same year. Lew has said in written testimony to the Senate Finance Committee that NYU forgave portions of the first loan and … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: February 26, 2013  The American people can rest assured that it’s still business as usual in Washington. Despite growing financial questions swirling around Treasury Secretary nominee, Jack Lew, the Senate Finance committee confirmed his nomination moments ago in a 19 to 5 vote. The full Senate must still vote and is expected to do so this week or next.  Senator Orrin Hatch, who said many questions about Lew’s time at two employers, New York University and Citigroup, remain unclear, failed to show the courage of his convictions and voted yes on the nomination, saying the President was owed deference in his selections.  Only Senator Chuck Grassley showed any courage in today’s hearing, asking to speak on the nomination and then voting no. Grassley said the Obama administration continues to criticize Congress when it is simply fulfilling its role of due diligence. He said Lew had real “eagerness … Continue reading →