THE WHITE WALL is out in paperback today! Over the past year I’ve heard feedback from readers around the country — bankers, regulators, lawmakers, professors. Folks with their own stories of strife. I’m proud of this recognition and of the book’s impact so far. Check it out!
This March, Bank of America employees called the cops on BLACK PANTHER director Ryan Coogler for trying to withdraw $$$ from his own account. Unfortunate accident? Not a chance. I spent the past 3 yrs investigating racism in banking. Here's what I found 🧵
Stunning: A whistleblower has leaked data on 18,000 bank accounts at Credit Suisse to a German newspaper, showing the bank doing business with the world’s villains in violation of the law, then covering it up
Oh. My. God.
Trump Las Vegas Sales and Marketing had:
0 employees
no clear business purpose
almost no income
Until 2016. Then it suddenly got $20 million in "fees."
When that $$ left the entity, it was written off as "business expenses" on
@POTUS
's taxes
Thread: It wasn’t easy being married to Bill Gates. Melinda French Gates wanted an equal partnership. She & Mr. Gates never quite achieved that. We reviewed a number of instances in which Mr. Gates’s behavior created thorny issues for Ms. French Gates
Ultimately, when she saw our
@nytimes
report about Mr. Gates’s meetings with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Ms. French Gates decided it was time to start working on a divorce.
Even after he married, Mr. Gates continued to pursue other women. In 2006 he sat through a presentation by a female Microsoft employee and then immediately emailed to ask her out on a date. She ignored the email.
I’m one of dozens & dozens of people who covered Trump’s 2016 campaign. I have long thought this, but it’s time to say it out loud. We tried to warn you. He joked about killing us, encouraged his supporters to beat protesters at his rallies, refused to condemn white supremacists
Lesson one: If you're Black you're likely to have a harder time doing basic banking business no matter where you go. Cops have been called on Black customers at
@chase
,
@Citi
,
@WellsFargo
,
@usbank
& at smaller banks as well. Size doesn't matter.
In another instance a year or two later, Mr. Gates propositioned a female employee of the Gates Foundation while the two were traveling in New York together. He never pressured the women for sex, our sources told us; he simply asked them for dates
The issue runs deeper than some bad calls. In 2019 I uncovered a
@chase
employee refusing to help a Black customer because she "didn't earn" her money & doesn't "respect it." That kicked off a 3-year investigation now told in full in my book THE WHITE WALL
I did a close reading of JPMorgan’s $30 billion pledge to address systemic racism. Went through it line by line with someone from the bank. I tried to get the $$$ to add up to $30b & learn what it meant to put a do-gooder price tag on everyday business
The more I read, the more I saw what was happening to innocent people trying to do routine banking business, like Clarice Middleton, who tried to cash a $200 check at a Wells Fargo in Atlanta and ended up fearing for her life when the cops showed up.
Ms. French Gates was thought to know about Mr. Gates’s wandering eye and to pointedly ignore it. She disapproved, too, of the way he wanted to handle a sexual harassment claim against their money manager Michael Larson
One of the most shocking stories in my book is Jimmy Kennedy's. He earned $13 million in the
@NFL
yet couldn't get
@Chase
to give him 'Private Client' status, & was told by a Chase employee that it was because people in his local branch were scared of him
MetroSports Magazine / New York Sports Photo Group
Jimmy Kennedy
@Kennedy73
of the NFL Superbowl
@Giants
inducted into the Roosevelt H.S. 'Wall of Fame'. Coach Tony DeMatteo said, "Jimmy is my greatest accomplishment as a coach and as a human being", Grizz said, "It’s not about football. It’s about being the best you can be."
Racism in finance is a huge problem. it was hard to even begin to capture it in one book. But I tried. I built on my reporting in
@nytimes
on Black insurance customers' struggles to get claims paid out, a key component in building & preserving wealth
I received leaked emails showing JPMorgan Chase tellers in the Northeast (NY-CT-NJ) trying to warn each other about suspicious customers. They're part of a never-ending thread the tellers are constantly adding to in real time. All start with the phrase "Please Use Caution..."
In October of 2019
@JamesStewartNYT
& I revealed that Bill Gates had been hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein & had found Epstein’s lifestyle “intriguing.” That’s when Melinda started talking about divorce, according to this story
Yesterday
@maggieNYT
&
@anniekarni
reported that
@Mike_Pence
had told Trump that he couldn’t block Congress’s certification of Biden’s win. Trump called
@nytimes
story fake news.
@Reuters
has Pence advisors confirming it
Justice Thomas has recused himself from SCOTUS cases in the past bc of family members’ activities. When his son worked for Wachovia, he stepped back from a slew of bank-regulatory cases that reached the Court. NOT doing it now looks like breaking precedent
These weren’t no-name criminals who sneakily fooled bankers. They were celebrity bad guys, and anyone with the ability to Google them should have known that their business would run counter to anti-money laundering laws
Some described obvious bad behavior--fake ids, using stolen cards. But where Black customers were involved, it was harder to tell what was wrong. Like this one w/subject line "Fraud" just says: "African American man, tried to cash a check from a business from Texas." That's it.
The problem with not acknowledging the past is you can't figure out how to improve the future. The banks are all making racial equity pledges with huge $$$ attached, but they're not acknowledging what it would REALLY take to fix things
I started to see that, for Black Americans, the various components of the financial system each presented their own barrier. Each barrier was a small piece of a bigger, exclusive force. I explained that to
@jessbruder
, who said: "It's like a wall."
So many folks have
#BankingWhileBlack
stories--about their treatment as customers, but also as Wall Street employees, policyholders, & financial advisors. I hope my book makes you feel heard and inspires you to share your own, here or in your communities
BREAKING: Saule Omarova has withdrawn for consideration to be the next comptroller of the currency.
@POTUS
has accepted. Some Republicans suggested Ms. Omarova was a communist. Banks fiercely opposed her, w/some lobbyists echoing qs on her "Soviet" origins
What I've been telling young/aspiring journalists for years--(&, until now, only those who specifically ask me, because who the hell am I, really) is to find a job at a trade publication & fully embrace the expertise that comes from having to get really into the weeds.
BREAKING: FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams is resigning. She was in a standoff with Dems on the FDIC board over the regulator’s priorities and values. McWilliams, a Republican appointed by Trump, balked at pursuing issues like climate change as it relates to financial stability.
This wall is OLD. It has kept Black Americans out for as long as the United States has existed. Yet its existence is seldom recognized. For instance, this is what
@Citi
says about one of its most important early leaders, Moses Taylor.
My story about Wells Fargo doing fake interviews of non-white candidates for jobs that have already been filled was published just 3 hours ago & I’ve already gotten messages like this one. Story here:
Here's how an historian described Taylor's management of Citi's predecessor. And here's how another historian described the Cuban sugar trade that made Taylor so rich. Yet Citi has never, other than in response to my questions for THE WHITE WALL, acknowledged his ties to slavery
One question I couldn’t answer yesterday was why SVB made the bad moves it made this week that led to the run by depositors. This great
@Reuters
scoop answers it: They were trying to stave off a downgrade by Moodys & acted on advice from Goldman Sachs
For many Americans, $600 in stimulus money is on the way. If you're expecting a direct deposit and your bank doesn't let you have the money because they say you owe overdraft fees or other things, I want to hear about it: emily.flitter
@nytimes
.com
Here’s an example from JPMorgan: When corrupt Nigerian officials colluded with two giant oil companies to extract more than a billion dollars from a state-owned oil asset, they used a JPM account; the bank made the transfers AND filed SARs about them
I should add: Credit Suisse points out that some of the account info in this leak is decades old. Also, other big banks do this too. They sometimes bank people/entities who are so shady that the banks also file suspicious activity reports to authorities on their transactions
In many states newly hired restaurant workers take an intro-to-food-service course. Its lessons are insultingly basic. The workers have to pay for it. It’s secretly a fundraising arm for restaurants’ lobbyists, by
@Fahrenthold
&
@talmonsmith
Today’s Page One — it’s never great when a story about a bank leads the paper, but there’s good news: This isn’t a repeat of 2008. Thanks in part to new capital rules, the biggest banks haven’t been boxed into the same corner in which Silicon Valley Bank found itself.
NEWS:
@Citi
is saying for the first time on its website that one of its founding figures, Moses Talyor, got rich via slavery & used "the bank as a private treasury for his own enterprises and required his companies to keep their principal accounts" there
Note: This shows how squishy AML laws are. Credit Suisse’s position is that they did what they should have done, closed accounts when necessary & monitored others. So when I said “in violation of the law” earlier, I meant in general, AML laws prohibit banking people doing crimes
Twitter is accusing a nonprofit that tracks hate speech online, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, of trying to harm its business interests by pointing out recent instances of how it has fostered hate speech,
@sheeraf
&
@RMac18
report
Big news! My book, THE WHITE WALL, is coming out from
@OneSignalPub
on Oct 25! It's a hard look at how racism--active, present-day prejudice--keeps Black Americans from prospering. Awed by the bravery of folks who shared their stories w/me. Pre-order here:
And one more really important note, for any of you who are only reading this thread & not the actual news story: This leak does not reflect Credit Suisse’s current operations
I knew Ivanka Trump had been in the habit of saying she didn't recall things she was being asked about in depositions and court testimony, but I didn't realize that she also apparently had momentary attacks of mindfulness -- depending on who was asking the questions
NEWS: I'm writing a book about racism in the financial system. I'll look at the many ways it affects Black Americans, including bank customers & employees, insurance policyholders & players in high finance. I'm focusing on the present, not the past, & exploring what must change
Senate Banking Committee members, including
@SenSherrodBrown
&
@ewarren
, have introduced a bill that would FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER mandate that banks treat their customers equally after
@nytimes
highlighted the lack of such mandate
All before he was elected. And the people who voted for him in 2016 didn’t believe us, some mocked us, accused us of having hidden agendas. We had none! We said what we saw, and we were dismissed. Our questions were called unfair. We were accused of putting words in his mouth
Women are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with a mental illness when their symptoms are consistent with heart disease, new research shows. Important story about what it’s like when doctors don’t listen to their patients—& how often that happens
There's a widespread crackdown on "junk fees" underway in the financial industry and beyond. Today, two regulators fined Bank of America $150 million for double-charging overdraft fees, skimping on card bonuses & opening fake accounts
The attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands is suing JPMorgan over its 15-year banking relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, saying the bank should have recognized & reported Epstein's sex trafficking operation, which took place on Little St. James Island
This is so fascinating. The birds’ routes are coded into their genes, and interbreeding with individuals who have different encoded routes produces offspring who take a third, middle route. I wonder if this is related to navigation by magnetic fields
EXCLUSIVE: Like the
#NFL
,
@WellsFargo
has a Rooney Rule—managers have to interview non-white candidates for open jobs. Like the NFL, Wells is being accused of interviewing Black and other minority candidates for jobs already promised to white men
Two U.S. banks helped Binance move billions of $$$ to jurisdictions that aren’t as up to speed, shall we say, on money laundering surveillance as the U.S. is. They’ve both since failed. Story w/
@MattGoldstein26
Some personal news: Thrilled to announce that my husband I and have eaten all of the Halloween candy we bought in case any trick-or-treaters came to our door (none did)
SVB did a terrible job managing interest rate risk. It bought too many assets while rates were low that were designed to yield more bc they had v long timelines to maturity. It’s a basic rule that those things lose value as rates go up. The Fed made it clear rates were going up!
When local govt officials don’t like their newspaper’s coverage, they tend to think about how they can strike back. Retaliation is a violation of the First Amendment, but you’d be surprised at how many of them identify revenge as a motive for their actions
Our job is to hold powerful people accountable. We need to be able to do that job for democracy to function. You might think we’re annoying, but you need us. So please, open your ears and eyes to us. Let us show you what’s going on. Don’t ignore us. Together, we can learn so much
COVID-era socializing is like a one-night stand. You consider yourself a safe, responsible person. Just this once you’re going to have some fun. You go out, it’s amazing, you’re exuberant, best night of your life. Then you wake up the next morning & go ‘what the fuck did I do?’
Over the summer, FTX pledged $600k to a Chicago nonprofit that helps formerly incarcerated people. A fancy consulting firm managed to get think tanks to brag about the donation, but the $$$ never arrived. It was a small part SBF’s quest to win DC
This isn’t a political opinion. I have always personally loved the detachment that comes with being a journalist. I’m watching the scene, trying my damndest not to be in it. That’s not what this is about though. This is about someone who undermined the entire act of journalism
Good morning! A personal tidbit to share with you: My beat has changed! I’m still on the NYT finance team and l’ll still write a great deal about banks, but I’ll also be looking at a vast array of other financial firms as I study the impact of finance on society. I am SO EXCITED!
NEWS: State Farm is being sued for discriminating against Black homeowners -- using hard numbers. A study by lawyers working with
@nyulaw
Center on Race, Inequality & the Law found Black customers waited longer, filed more paperwork, talked to more reps
NEWS: A Cornell Law professor,
@STOmarova
, is the new top candidate to run the OCC, which regulates banks like JPMorgan, Bank of America & Citi. Her guiding philosophy is that it’s wrong for the financial industry to rely on the public to be its “janitors”
Tl;dr: "Though Clapton studied the music of the blues, he seems to have not read up on what drove the work of many of his heroes."
Clapton says: "I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather be doing than picking cotton and hearing that music all around me”
NEWS: Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into
@WellsFargo
’s hiring practices. They’re seeking to determine whether the bank violated the civil rights of minority candidates who were subjected to fake job interviews
Another important difference between now & ‘08: Back then, the entire industry had given into a big blind spot in their risk assessments — the notion that real estate prices would always go up. This time, there was also bad risk management but not by the entire industry. Just SVB
The
@NYTmag
profile of this guy really stuck in my head. I think about him not infrequently, not bc of the transatlantic trips but bc of the grueling portages he did between rivers in Eastern Europe. You knew he wasn’t going to die at home in bed
Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf told employees today that the bank is "pausing" a rule requiring half of all candidates interviewed for jobs paying $100k or more be nonwhite or female, following
@nytimes
report that managers were doing sham interviews
The racial wealth gap in this country hasn’t changed in 60 years. Black Americans have less than 15 pct of white Americans’ average household wealth. JPMorgan’s pledge doesn’t talk about this statistic or why it exists. If it did, it would have to acknowledge very ugly truths
The fabric of our democracy and the principles of our republic are under attack by the President.
Enough is enough.
President Trump should resign or be removed from office by his Cabinet, or by the Congress. 6/6
MY BOOKS ARE HERE!!! Four boxes of THE WHITE WALL in finished form arrived at my doorstep, and I just can’t believe how excited I am. To flip through the pages printed on such luxurious paper and feel the weight of it is thrilling. It comes out in exactly one month!
The Fed conducted stress tests of the 23 largest banks that included scenarios with 10 pct unemployment, 40 pct declines in commercial real estate and $500b in losses and they all passed
It was pretty wild to see a bank that big fail in the middle of business hours. Usually the FDIC waits until everything closes for the weekend on Friday. But the run was so severe this time they apparently couldn’t wait. A lot of things had to go very wrong to get to that point.
How it started: "Teachers would send home notes to her parents that said 'Abby needs to speak up.'”
How it's going: “I hope when she has her own show she’ll have me on it,” -
@niaCNN
Read
@katierosman
on the reporter & role model
@abbydphillip
Wow.
@kenklippenstein
got internal Amazon docs showing that the chat app it's building for employees would ban certain words & phrases, like "slave labor" & "restrooms," to dampen union organizing activity. A spox confirms the plan but says it may change
This
@StacyCowley
&
@ellawinthrop
story is pretty wild because the gun industry was deemed essential by the Trump administration and therefore not subjected to the same lockdown requirements. Did Daniel's employees even stop going to work?
The claims floating around that Silicon Valley Bank failed because they were too concerned with "woke" concepts like having a diverse board aren't dissimilar to those made in 2008 when a vocal contingent tried to blame the financial crisis on the Community Reinvestment Act
Good morning, here’s all you need to know from the paper of record today:
@nytimes
is distributing $$$ to shareholders because business is great.
@NYTimesGuild
members need affordable health insurance & pay raises in line with inflation.
Mgmt doesn’t seem to think we’re worth it.
NEWS: Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating whether
@SBF_FTX
manipulated the market for TerraUSD and Luna, leading to the coins' collapse & touching off the crypto crisis -- w/
@yaffebellany
&
@MattGoldstein26
Citi accidentally wires $900 million to the wrong people-- white hedge fund managers--& so far hasn't been able to get it back. Charles Schwab accidentally deposits $1.2 million into a Black woman's account, she gets arrested & charged w/bank fraud
Fabulous detail in this
@susannecraig
@mmcintire
@russbuettner
story: while
@POTUS
spox denies the whole story, the Vegas businessman involved, Phil Ruffin, just says (thru a spokesperson) that he wasn't involved in whatever Trump did with his taxes after taking the $$
The ship hits the bridge, the bridge collapses, six people die, the port is cut off. Around the world, a group of 80 or so firms whose business it is to insure insurers prepares to pony up $3 billion. W/
@jggross
@PekingMike
@PeterJEavis
Tit for tat? After Ruffin/Trump JV comes up with $20m 2016, US gov greenlights a bullet train between Vegas & SoCal. "This past March, a panel composed largely of Trump appointees gave the train company permission to sell $1 billion in tax-free bonds to private investors."
International authorities suspect that a Puerto Rico-based bank, Euro Pacific Bank, has become a money laundering and tax evasion hub. Here's a look inside the investigation, by
@MattGoldstein26
&
@damiencave
The beauty of this
@katierosman
profile of
@kathygriffin
is its success in filtering out the caustic and persistent elements of social media's gaze on Griffin over the past 5 years. Katie makes it look so easy, but I can't imagine how she did it. Bravo.
From the second they walk into a bank branch, Black customers are at a disadvantage. They risk getting the cops called on them by tellers in the habit of racial profiling. They risk getting discouraged from even applying for loans. I’m not talking historically, I mean now.
But JPM won’t talk about that bad stuff, and won’t mention the fact that years ago it stopped making the kinds of mortgage loans Black borrowers most frequently get (like FHA loans) because they weren’t profitable. It won’t even say what % of its mortgages go to Black borrowers