This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

Barney Frank Demands Immediate Repayment Of Northern Trust Boondoggle Money

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Northern Trust is the latest bank to suffer populist anger, choreographed courtesy of Barney Frank, after it was disclosed that they had some serious fun at the taxpayer's expense last week. TMZ via Dealbreaker gave a blow by blow of the festivities that Northern Trust Employees partook in, which included:

  • Wednesday, Northern Trust hosted a fancy dinner at the Ritz followed by a performance by the group Chicago.
  • Thursday, Northern Trust rented a private hangar at the Santa Monica Airport for dinner, followed by a performance by Earth, Wind & Fire.
  • Saturday, Northern Trust had the entire House of Blues in West Hollywood shut down for its private party. We got the menu -- guests dined on seared salmon and petite Angus filet. Dinner was followed by a performance by none other than Sheryl Crow.
  • There was also a fabulous cocktail party at the Loews. And how's this for a nice touch: Female guests at the Chicago concert all got trinkets from ... TIFFANY AND CO.

Barney Frank immediately shot back, and is demanding a full repayment of any and all money that was spent on this spectacular exhibition of horrible PR. It is curious that the government still has to find out about which night clubs its bailoutees frequent by reading the yellow pages.

The letter, in which he expresses his indignation at not having been invited, is below.

Mr. Frederick H. Waddell
President and Chief Executive Officer
Northern Trust
50 South LaSalle
Chicago, IL 60603

Dear Mr. Waddell:

We are dismayed and angered to learn that Northern Trust recently spent millions of dollars on a PGA golf tournament sponsorship and associated parties at the same time it has taken over $1.5 billion in federal stabilization funding under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. According to published media reports, your bank not only sponsored the Northern Trust tournament at the Riviera Country Club, but also hosted clients and employees at places like the Beverly Wilshire and Ritz Carlton hotels and gave away Tiffany souvenirs. If this is accurate, we are demanding you take corrective action.

At a time when millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure, businesses and consumers are in dire need of credit, and the government is trying to keep financial institutions – including yours – alive with billions in taxpayer funds, this behavior demonstrates extraordinary levels of irresponsibility and arrogance.

We insist that you immediately return to the federal government the equivalent of what Northern Trust frittered away on these lavish events. Federal taxpayers should not and will not stand for such abuses, and we will insist that any future Treasury support for Northern Trust be conditioned on a thorough reform of your company’s policies and practices.

We look forward to your reply and immediate reimbursement of these funds.

Sincerely,

Reps. Barney Frank, Carolyn Maloney, Brad Sherman, Dennis Moore, Wm Lacy Clay, Stephen F. Lynch, Brad Miller, Al Green, Gwen Moore, Paul W. Hodes, Keith Ellison, Charles Wilson, Bill Foster, Andre Carson, Mary Jo Kilroy, Steve Driehaus, Alan Grayson, Gary Peters

 

- advertisements -

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!