The U.S. Department of Justice formally opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook on September 4, 2025, following a criminal referral from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte. Federal prosecutors issued grand jury subpoenas in Georgia and Michigan to …
Department of JusticeLisa CookPam BondiBill PulteEd Martin+2 moredojfederal-reservecriminal-investigationpolitical-prosecutioninstitutional-capture+1 more
California regulators close Silicon Valley Bank and appoint the FDIC as receiver after a catastrophic bank run, marking the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history and the largest since the 2008 financial crisis. SVB, the 16th largest U.S. bank with $212 billion in assets, collapses due to …
Silicon Valley BankGreg BeckerFDICFederal ReserveCalifornia DFPI+2 morebanking-collapseregulatory-capturederegulationdodd-franksystemic-risk+3 more
Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $150 million in penalties for its failure to properly monitor Jeffrey Epstein’s banking activities. The bank processed hundreds of transactions for Epstein even after his 2008 conviction, including payments to potential co-conspirators and alleged victims. …
Deutsche BankJeffrey EpsteinNew York Department of Financial ServicesFederal ReserveEpstein co-conspirators+1 moremoney-launderingbanking-violationsregulatory-failurefinancial-crimesco-conspirator-payments+1 more
U.S. student loan debt surpassed $1.6 trillion in June 2019 according to Federal Reserve data, representing a 107% increase from approximately $772 billion at the end of 2009 and affecting some 44 million American borrowers. The milestone crystallized the student debt crisis as a systemic economic …
Federal Reservestudent-debteconomic-crisisinequality
President Trump signs the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S.2155), dramatically weakening post-2008 financial regulations by raising the asset threshold for ‘systemically important financial institution’ (SIFI) designation from $50 billion to $250 …
Donald TrumpGreg BeckerSilicon Valley BankMike CrapoMark Warner+3 morederegulationbankingdodd-frankregulatory-capturelobbying+2 more
The Federal Reserve Board imposes an unprecedented enforcement action against Wells Fargo, restricting the bank from growing beyond its total asset size as of December 31, 2017—approximately $1.95 trillion. The asset cap represents the most severe punishment the Fed has imposed on a major bank in …
Federal ReserveJanet YellenWells Fargo Boardbanking-regulationwells-fargofederal-reservecorporate-accountability
Russian operative Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin (member of Russia’s upper house of parliament and later sanctioned Russian official) traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to attend the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting from April 8-11, 2015. During this trip, Torshin met with …
Maria ButinaAlexander TorshinNational Rifle AssociationStanley FischerFederal Reserverussian-influencenraforeign-agentsconservative-infiltrationmaria-butina+2 more
The first comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve revealed it secretly provided $16.1 trillion in emergency loans to major financial institutions during the 2008-2010 financial crisis, far exceeding the $700 billion TARP program. The audit exposed unprecedented scale of financial sector bailouts, …
Federal ReserveBen BernankeCitigroupMorgan StanleyGoldman Sachs+4 morefinancial-crisissecret-bailoutmonetary-capturefederal-reserveregulatory-capture+1 more
On September 16, 2008, just one day after allowing Lehman Brothers to file for bankruptcy, the Federal Reserve provided an $85 billion two-year emergency loan to American International Group (AIG) to prevent the insurance giant’s collapse and contain spreading financial contagion. In exchange …
American International GroupFederal ReserveBen BernankeTimothy GeithnerHenry Paulson+2 morefinancial-crisisbailouttoo-big-to-failregulatory-captureexecutive-compensation+1 more
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 15, 2008, declaring $639 billion in assets and $613 billion in debts, making it the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. The firm’s assets far surpassed those of previous bankrupt giants including …
Bank of America completed its acquisition of Countrywide Financial on July 1, 2008, purchasing the nation’s largest mortgage lender for approximately $4 billion in a Federal Reserve-approved transaction that would ultimately cost Bank of America and its shareholders at least $50 billion in …
Angelo MoziloCountrywide FinancialBank of AmericaSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC)Department of Justice+1 morefinancial-crisisregulatory-capturepredatory-lendingfraudaccountability-crisis+1 more
The U.S. housing bubble reaches its peak in mid-2006, with national home prices having risen 124 percent since 1997. Subprime mortgage originations hit $600 billion, representing 23 percent of all mortgage originations, up from 8 percent in 2003. The bubble’s apex represents the culmination of …
Countrywide FinancialNew Century FinancialWashington MutualAmeriquestFederal Reserve+1 morehousing-bubblepredatory-lendingsubprime-mortgagessystemic-riskhousing
By year’s end, the Asian Financial Crisis results in a fundamental restructuring of Southeast Asian economies. Millions lose jobs, local companies are sold at fire-sale prices to multinational corporations, and national economic policies are effectively rewritten under IMF and World Bank …
International Monetary FundWorld BankMcKinsey & CompanyMultinational CorporationsFederal Reserveasian-financial-crisisstructural-adjustmentimfeconomic-shock-therapycorporate-capture+1 more
NationsBank completes its $62 billion acquisition of BankAmerica Corporation, creating the first truly coast-to-coast national bank in U.S. history and taking the Bank of America name. The merger occurs just one year before the formal repeal of Glass-Steagall, demonstrating how banking consolidation …
NationsBankBankAmericaFederal ReserveDepartment of JusticeHugh McCollbanking-consolidationmergersglass-steagallderegulationmarket-concentration+1 more
In September 1998, the Federal Reserve Board granted Citicorp a temporary waiver allowing its merger with Travelers Group, effectively circumventing the Glass-Steagall Act and Bank Holding Company Act. This strategic regulatory maneuver created Citigroup, the first ‘universal bank’ since …
Federal ReserveAlan GreenspanCiticorpTravelers GroupSandy Weill+4 morefederal-reservecitigroupglass-steagall-violationregulatory-waiversystemic-corruption+3 more
In June 1998, multinational financial institutions and international organizations systematically exploited the Asian Financial Crisis through coordinated structural adjustment policies. The IMF and World Bank engineered $100 billion in support packages that effectively restructured Asian economies, …
Goldman SachsCitigroupMcKinsey & CompanyIMFWorld Bank+2 morecorporate-captureeconomic-interventionasset-strippingglobalizationimf-intervention+1 more
Citicorp CEO John Reed and Travelers Group CEO Sanford Weill announce on April 6, 1998, the merger of their companies to form Citigroup, a $140 billion conglomerate combining banking, securities, and insurance services under brands including Citibank, Smith Barney, Primerica, and Travelers. The …
Sanford WeillJohn ReedCiticorpTravelers GroupFederal Reserve+3 morederegulationregulatory-captureneoliberalismbanking-deregulationcorporate-power+2 more
Thailand’s decision to float the baht on July 2, 1997, triggered a catastrophic financial crisis across Southeast Asia. The currency collapsed from 25 baht per USD to 54 baht per USD by January 1998, causing systemic economic destabilization. The IMF and World Bank responded with a $20 billion …
Bank of ThailandIMFWorld BankFederal ReserveAsian Development Bankasian-financial-crisiseconomic-shockimf-interventionstructural-adjustmentcurrency-devaluation+1 more
After three decades of wages rising in tandem with productivity (1948-1979), the fundamental relationship between worker productivity and compensation breaks down completely beginning in 1979, marking the start of 45+ years of wage stagnation despite continued productivity growth. Between 1948-1979, …
American workersCorporate managementFederal ReserveBusiness Roundtablelabor-suppressionwage-stagnationproductivity-gapunion-declineinequality+1 more
President Carter signs the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), requiring banks to meet the credit needs of their entire communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods previously redlined by lenders. The law responds to decades of documented discriminatory lending that drained deposits …
President Jimmy CarterSenator William ProxmireAmerican Bankers AssociationFederal ReserveFDIC+1 moreregulatory-responsehousing-policybanking-regulationcivil-rightshousing
Congress passes two major housing consumer protection laws in 1974: the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) prohibiting discrimination in lending based on sex and marital status (race added in 1976), and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) requiring disclosure of closing costs. …
U.S. CongressPresident Gerald FordAmerican Bankers AssociationMortgage Bankers AssociationFederal Reservefair-lendingconsumer-protectionhousing-policyindustry-lobbyinghousing
The Business Roundtable is formally established through merger of three CEO organizations (the March Group, Construction Users Anti-Inflation Roundtable, and Labor Law Study Committee), creating a unique corporate coordination infrastructure where CEOs directly collaborate with government officials …
John ConnallyArthur BurnsReginald JonesJohn HarperU.S. Treasury+1 morebusiness-roundtablecorporate-coordinationpowell-memoceo-activismstate-corporate-coordination
The American economy enters a severe recession in May 1937, lasting 13 months through June 1938, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepts the advice of his conservative Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. to slash government spending by 17% over two years in an effort to balance the federal …
Franklin D. RooseveltHenry Morgenthau Jr.Federal ReserveU.S. Treasury DepartmentHarry Hopkins+1 moreeconomic-policynew-dealausterityrecessionconservative-sabotage
President Roosevelt signs the Gold Reserve Act on January 30, 1934, nationalizing all gold holdings in the United States, transferring ownership of Federal Reserve gold to the U.S. Treasury, and authorizing the President to set the gold value of the dollar between 50 and 60 percent of its previous …
Franklin D. RooseveltU.S. CongressFederal ReserveWall Streetbanking industry+1 morenew-dealmonetary-policygold-standardfinancial-regulationcorporate-resistance
On March 9, 1933, just five days after Franklin Roosevelt’s inauguration and three days after his declaration of a national bank holiday, Congress passes the Emergency Banking Act in a mere eight hours—many members voting without even reading the legislation. The act grants the President …
Franklin D. RooseveltU.S. CongressFederal ReserveWilliam Woodinbanking industrynew-dealbanking-crisisfinancial-regulationemergency-powers
On March 6, 1933, two days after his inauguration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt invokes emergency powers to declare a nationwide “bank holiday,” closing all banks in the United States and suspending all banking transactions. The unprecedented action aims to stop the complete collapse …
Franklin D. Rooseveltbanking industryFederal ReserveAmerican depositorsbanking-crisisnew-dealfinancial-regulationemergency-powersgreat-depression
A second wave of banking panics erupts in June 1931 centered in Chicago, where depositor runs beset networks of banks that had invested in declining real estate assets, resulting in approximately 2,300 bank suspensions during 1931—significantly more than the 1,350 failures in 1930. The crisis …
Herbert HooverFederal ReserveAmerican bankersdepositorsfinancial-crisisbankinggreat-depressionderegulationinstitutional-failure
Investment trusts reached peak popularity and systemic danger by selling at premiums higher than underlying stock values while creating complex pyramids of cross-ownership and hidden leverage. These 1929 equivalents of closed-end mutual funds bought stock on margin with funds loaned not by banks but …
A new brokerage industry enabling margin stock purchases allowed ordinary investors to buy corporate equities with only 10 percent down, borrowing the rest with stocks serving as collateral for loans. By August 1929, brokers routinely lent small investors more than two-thirds of the face value of …
Federal ReserveGoldman SachsInvestment Trustsfinancial-deregulationspeculationsystematic-corruptionwealth-concentration
President Calvin Coolidge signs the McFadden Act, one of the most contested pieces of banking legislation in U.S. history, which recharters the twelve Federal Reserve District Banks into perpetuity but prohibits interstate branch banking for national banks. Named after Representative Louis Thomas …
Louis Thomas McFaddenCalvin CoolidgeU.S. CongressFederal Reservefinancial-deregulationbankingregulatory-capture
American agriculture enters a decade-long depression beginning in summer 1920 as commodity prices collapse following the end of wartime demand. Wheat prices fall from $2.50 per bushel to under $1.00; cotton drops from 35 cents per pound to 13 cents; corn collapses from $1.50 to 42 cents. Meanwhile, …
Andrew MellonFederal ReserveFarm BureauU.S. Congresseconomic-crisisregulatory-failurerural-americabankingagricultural-policy