I expect I will catch heat from my Democrat friends who think we shouldn’t say anything negative about Hillary because it will damage her chance of defeating Trump if she wins the primaries. I disagree. These issues need to be revealed to Democratic voters now, while they can still vote for someone better. People who don’t learn about these issues may vote for the wrong candidate.
Today I won’t say anything negative about Hillary, but focus instead on the Wall Street and banking firms that the Clintons took $9 million in speaking fees from in 2013-2015.
(c) 2016 Brenda Grantland, Truth and Justice Blog
revised 4/2/2016 to correct re-categorize some corporations by industry and correct figures
In my last blog, Hillary: About those speaker fees… Part 1, I pointed out some patterns I noticed when I researched the groups that paid the Clintons six-figure speaking fees between 2013 and 2015. In case you didn’t hear about this scandal, between January 2013 and May 2015, Bill and Hillary made 184 speeches to 150 different corporations, with the speaker fees totaling $47.7 million. These speaker fees were payments directly to the Clintons, for their own use – not campaign contributions or charitable donations (though some of the corporations also made campaign contributions and donations to the Clinton Foundation.)
As I explained in my last blog, many of the corporations turned out to be “titans of the corporatocracy” (as I call them) — corporations that aggressively pursue wealth and power, and constantly expand their size by acquiring competitors. Quite often, they break a few laws along the way and get fined and/or sued for damages. These corporations spend large sums lobbying for more favorable laws and to lower taxes for themselves and their industries, and pass the costs on to consumers. Many of these corporations have become so large they are “too big to fail” and “too big to jail.”
Here are the speaking fee totals for Bill and Hillary Clinton for the period of January 2013 to May 2015, broken down by industry. (Hillary’s speeches were in a briefer period — from April 2013 to March 2015, quitting when she announced her candidacy for president.)
I categorized them by industry, based on my research. When the corporation spans two or more industries, I categorized it only by the predominant industry.
Banking & financial groups – $9,565,500
Trade associations & lobbying groups – $7,292,500
Health care industries – doctors, HMOs, prescription drugs – $4,791,500
Computer/tech companies – $4,111,000
Speaker bureaus – $2,722,250
Broadcasting and media – $2,555,000
Manufacturing – $1,476,000
Religious organizations – $ $1, 475,000
Retain & wholesale – $1,465,000
Law firms – $1,325,500
Insurance – $1,225,500
Real estate – $1,200,500
Travel & leisure – $1,190,000
Foreign trade – $1,016,000
Business consulting – $975,000
Education – $676,000
Entities I couldn’t find info on – $675,000
Communications – $650,000Total – $47.7 million
The largest total came from the banking and finance industry – comprised of banks, hedge funds, futures trading, and Wall Street entities. Because that industry brought in the most money for them, and also because the public is asking for the transcripts of speeches to banks and Wall Street firms, this blog will be about the banking and finance firms only. I may address those other industries in later blogs.
I compiled the information below from searching Wikipedia and the articles linked therein, and articles I found in cursory Google searches. It is by no means comprehensive research, and I may have missed things. My knowledge of banking and investment terminology is very limited, so I used the terms that were used in the article, but I may not have used the terminology accurately. I am still fact-checking and linking references, so if you see something you think may be incorrect, please let me know.
Banks and financial industry corporations that paid the Clintons for speeches 2013-15
When I researched the banking corporations that hosted the Clintons’ speeches in 2013-2015, many the corporations seemed more troubling than Goldman Sachs. Some were under investigation or had pending litigation for misconduct when the six-figure speeches occurred. I tried to rank them with the worst records of violations first, but that was often difficult to do. Many of them were involved in the same scandals.
Hillary needs to turn over the transcripts of the speeches to these corporations too.
4/2/2016 correction adds CME Group, a futures trader, to the banking & finance list
UBS Wealth Management – 5 speeches totaling $1,075,000
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 5/9/2013 | UBS Wealth Management | San Francisco, CA | Bill | $175,000.00 |
| 7/11/2013 | UBS Wealth Management | New York, NY | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
| 5/19/2014 | UBS Wealth Management | Washington, D.C. | Bill | $225,000.00 |
| 10/14/2014 | UBS Wealth Management | Boston, MA | Bill | $225,000.00 |
| 2/19/2015 | UBS Wealth Management | Nashville, TN | Bill | $225,000.00 |
UBS is a Swiss bank, “considered the world’s largest manager of private wealth assets.” In 2014 it managed the equivalent of $1,966.9 billion in US dollars. It was involved in the subprime mortgage crisis and had over $37 billion in losses – among the largest in that worldwide crisis.
A Swiss commission set up to probe misconduct by the Swiss during World War II, including banks’ holding the assets of those who died in the Holocaust, found that a predecessor corporation of UBS was active in trading stolen securities, in violation of Swiss law. At the time the officials overlooked the misconduct, allowing UBS to be an indispensable funder of the Third Reich, enabling it to buy fuel and weapons to fight the war. Nevertheless these companies claim they should not be held responsible for what happened in that era. Swiss Were Part of Nazi Economic Lifeline, Historians Find, by Elizabeth Olson, NY Times, Dec. 2, 2001.
In the mid to late 1990s it came to light that UBS had traded stolen gold and securities and otherwise profited off the Holocaust. UBS admitted that a lot of bank accounts had gone unclaimed by family members of Holocaust victims because of the bank’s policy of requiring a death certificate from family members – something hard to obtain for people who died in Nazi death camps.
In 1997 a night watchmen at UBS discovered employees shredding archives from the Nazi era, in possible violation of Swiss law requiring preservation of Nazi-era archives. UBS apologized and an internal historian claimed the shredded archives were not related to the holocaust. Criminal charges were brought against the archivist for destroying the documents and against the night watchman for violating bank secrecy laws, but both proceedings were dismissed.
A lawsuit brought by Holocaust victims against UBS and other Swiss banks settled for $1.25 billion in 1998.
In 2009, a few weeks after Hillary Clinton was sworn in as Secretary of State, she intervened to help UBS out in a lawsuit. The IRS had sued UBS seeking the identities of owners of 52,000 Swiss bank accounts. Hillary announced a settlement – UBS would turn over information on 4,450 of the accounts. Thereafter UBS paid Bill Clinton $1.5 million for speeches. Note these speeches for UBS were prior to, and in addition to, the speeches the Clintons later made to UBS between 2013-2015. Hillary Helps a Bank—and Then It Funnels Millions to the Clintons, TheAtlantic.com July 31, 2015.
Deutzche Bank – 3 speeches totaling $775,000
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 4/24/2013 | Deutsche Bank AG | Washington, DC | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
| 8/27/2014 | Deutsche Bank AG | Boston MA | Bill | $270,000.00 |
| 10/7/2014 | Deutsche Bank AG | New York, NY | Hillary | $280,000.00 |
Deutsche Bank is another huge global bank that profited off Nazi Germany. According to a 1999 New York Times article, Deutsche Bank Linked to Auschwitz Funding, by John Schmid, NY Times 2/5/1999. Deutsche Bank “helped finance construction of the Auschwitz death camp,” and “serviced accounts for the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, which deposited proceeds from auctions of property confiscated from deported Jews.” Those facts were discovered by the bank’s historians, who were combing through Deutsche Bank’s archives, a cache of historical records that spans 6 miles of shelf space.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Deutsche Bank immediately dismissed three Jewish board members. In a November 12, 1938 decree, the Nazis prohibited Jews from owning stores or selling services, and Jewish businesses were ordered confiscated by the government and transferred to Aryans (an invented sub-race of white Germans). Thereafter Deutsche Bank participated in the “Aryanization of Jewish-owned businesses,” a program that forced Jewish business owners to sell their businesses to “Aryans” at bargain basement prices.
In 1948, after Nazi Germany was defeated, the Allies ordered that Deutsche Bank be broken up into 10 regional banks. In 1952 those 10 regional banks consolidated into three major banks, and in 1957 the three major banks combined to form Deutsche Bank AG.
Deutsche Bank was the subject of a $28 billion class action suit brought by Holocaust survivors who claim Deutsche Bank profited from gold and property confiscated from Holocaust victims. In December 1999, Deutsche Bank contributed $5.2 billion to a compensation fund to settle that case.
In October 2001, Deutsche Bank was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. That began another period of rapid growth, with the bank acquiring other banks in the US, Europe and Russia. From 2001 to 2007, the bank engaged in spying on its critics. From 2004 to 2008 the bank was heavily invested in selling collateralized debts (CDOs). In 2011 US Senate Permanent Select Committee on Investigations said Deutsche Bank was a case study of bank involvement in the mortgage bubble, CDOs, the credit crunch, and the recession. Even as the market was collapsing in 2007, when the bank’s chief trader was criticizing the CDO market, Deutsche Bank kept selling CDOs to investors.
One of the CDO packages Deutsche Bank was selling was mostly made up of mortgages from subprime lenders, with some other mortgage bonds and the bank represented them as being good investments. By 2009 the CDO was almost worthless and investors had lost most of their money. While the CDOs were starting to tank, Deutsche Bank began selling credit default swaps (essentially insurance policies) in case the CDOs would fail in order to profit from the coming collapse.
AIG sold a lot of the CDS insurance policies, so when the mortgage bubble burst and the CDOs tanked, AIG suffered devastating losses covering the payouts and the powers that be decided the US taxpayers had to bail them out. AIG had to pay Deutsche Bank billions, which included $11.8 billion from the US taxpayer bailout of AIG.
In 2015 Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $2.5 billion in fines ($2.1 billion of that to US regulators) for its involvement in the Libor scandal. The bank also pleaded guilty to wire fraud and agreed to dismiss at least 29 employees involved in the fraud. Also in 2015 Deutsche Bank had to pay $258 million in penalties for helping businesses evade US sanctions that prohibited doing business with Iran, Libya, Syria, Burma and Sudan. Deutsche Bank cleared 27,000 transactions valued at $10.86 billion with these prohibited countries. Additionally in 2015 Deutsche Bank agreed to pay a $120 million settlement to resolve claims it conspired to fix prices and limit competition in the credit default swap market – along with many of the other banking titans the Clintons took speaking fees from between 2013 and 2015.
Deutsche Bank is still under Justice Department investigation into possible sanctions violations for the 2014-15 crisis in the Ukraine and for its activities in Russia.
Goldman Sachs – 4 speeches in 2013-15 totaling $875,000
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 6/4/2013 | The Goldman Sachs Group | Palmetto Bluffs, SC | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
| 6/6/2013 | The Goldman Sachs Group | New York, NY | Bill | $200,000.00 |
| 10/24/2013 | The Goldman Sachs Group | New York, NY | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
| 10/29/2013 | The Goldman Sachs Group | Tuscon, AZ | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
Goldman Sachs is an American multinational investment banking firm headquartered in New York. In addition to other banking services, it advises firms on mergers and acquisitions – helping already huge corporations get bigger and swallow the competition. It also created and marketed exotic financial “products” such as the subprime mortgage-backed securities which led to the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-2008.
Goldman Sachs was heavily involved in the subprime mortgage market. During the 2007-2008 collapse, two Goldman Sachs traders made a profit of $4 billion by selling securities that bet the subprime mortgage market would collapse.
Goldman Sachs lost a bundle in the subprime mortgage collapse and had to be bailed out by U.S. taxpayers. After its first infusion of TARP funds in 2008, Goldman came under fire for paying bonuses of over $1 million each to 953 of its top employees. The CEO and six other executives declined to take the bonuses.
In 2010 Goldman Sachs paid $550 million to settle charges that it misled investors in a subprime mortgage product called Abacus (“collateralized debt obligation” or CDO). The CDO was structured in a way that allowed another investor to profit by “shorting” or betting against the security. The people who invested in shorting made profits off the subprime mortgage meltdown.
In 2014 Goldman Sachs paid $3 billion to the Federal Housing Finance Agency to settle claims with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the sale of flawed mortgage securities. They also bought back bonds from the mortgage finance firms.
In 2015 Goldman Sachs agreed to pay a $164 million settlement to resolve claims it conspired to fix prices and limit competition in the credit default swap market – along with many of the other banking titans the Clintons took speaking fees from.
In January 2016 Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $5 billion to resolve an investigation brought by the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group of the U.S. Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (RMBS Working Group) for selling faulty mortgage-backed securities. Of that amount $2.385 billion is a civil monetary penalty, $875 million in cash and $1.8 billion in “soft money” for consumer relief (loan modifications and foreclosure relief).
In his 2010 Rolling Stone article, The Great Bubble Machine, Matt Taibbi described Goldman Sachs: “The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindled dry American empire, reads like a Who’s Who of Goldman Sachs graduates.”
The revolving door between Goldman Sachs and high level government appointments is legendary. Goldman alumni include Robert Rubin, Treasury secretary during Bill Clinton’s administration and Henry Paulson, George Bush’s last Treasury secretary, among others.
As a tribute to what Hillary means to them, Goldman Sachs came up with a clever nickname for her speaking fees — “Hillary’s Goldman handcuffs” – a reference to “golden handcuffs” a term for financial perks that encourage employees to remain with the company. Hillary’s “Goldman Handcuffs” — Yes, that is GS’s nickname for her, Daily KOS, Feb 17, 2016.
Bank of America 2 speeches in 2013-2015 totaling $725,000
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 11/13/2013 | Bank of America | Bluffton, SC | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
| 3/6/2014 | Bank of America | London, UK | Bill | $500,000.00 |
The Miami Herald reported that Bank of America paid the Clintons $1.125 for 4 speeches between 2011 and 2014. (I only have the figures back to early 2013). See Bank of America paid Clintons speaking fees, too — more than $1M worth, by Deon Roberts, 3/12/16, Miami Herald.
Bank of America is an American multinational bank – the second largest bank holding company in the U.S. by assets, and 21st largest company in the U.S. by total revenue (as of 2013). In 2010 Forbes said it was the third biggest company in the world. It held 12.2% of all U.S. bank deposits in 2009.
The company began in 1904 as the Bank of Italy, for Italian immigrants in San Francisco. In 1928 it merged with Bank of America, Los Angeles and later expanded into the western states and the insurance industry. In 1953 the Clayton Antitrust Act and in 1956 the Bank Holding Company Act were used to break up the bank.
Bank of America continued to grow larger by buying up competitors, including Countrywide Financial (while Countrywide was under FBI investigation for fraud). This acquisition made BoA the leading mortgage lender in the US, with 20% to 25% of the US home loan market. In 2011 BoA paid $335 million to settle a Justice Department investigation of Countrywide for discriminating against minority borrowers who qualified for prime loans by steering them to higher interest subprime mortgages.
In 2008 BoA, with help from the federal government, bought up Merrill Lynch when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. When news broke of Merrill Lynch’s trading losses BoA tried to cancel the deal but the federal government refused to consent. In 2012 BoA settled a securities class action suit over Merrill Lynch, agreeing to pay $2.43 billion.
Bank of America was involved in the subprime mortgage crisis, and generated more faulty mortgages than Goldman Sachs. Bank of America received a $25 billion bailout in 2008 and in 2009, a $20 billion bailout — from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). It fully repaid the TARP loans in 2009.
In 2009 BoA agreed to pay the SEC a $33 million fine for failing to disclose that it had agreed to pay up to $5.8 billion in bonuses at Merrill Lynch (696 people received more than $1 million in bonuses, and one person received $33 million). A judge later raised the fine to $150 million.
In 2010 BoA was accused of fraud in the investment of municipal bond sales proceeds, and agreed to pay $137.7 million in settlement. One former bank official pleaded guilty to antitrust and wire fraud.
In 2014 BoA paid $16.65 billion for its role in the subprime mortgage crisis. Of that amount, $7 billion was to repay victims, but an economist said the bank caused $700 billion in damage to 11 million homeowners.
Also in 2014, BoA was fined $1.3 billion after a jury verdict that BoA defrauded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by misrepresenting the quality of mortgage loans (costing taxpayers $1 billion according to the lawsuit). Three whistleblowers – two of them employees — were paid $170 million in whistleblower awards.
In 2015 Bank of America agreed to pay a $90 million settlement to resolve claims it conspired to fix prices and limit competition in the credit default swap market – along with many of the other banking titans the Clintons took speaking fees from between 2013 and 2015.
JPMorgan Chase 1 speech for $300,000
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 11/9/2013 | JP Morgan | Rutherford, CA | Bill | $300,000.00 |
JPMorgan Chaise is an American multinational bank — the largest in the U.S., the sixth largest in the world in total assets, and the world’s sixth largest public company. Its hedge fund unit is the second largest hedge fund in the U.S.
JPMorgan got to be that large by buying up or merging with competitors. In 2008 when Bear Stearns was struggling, JPMorgan acquired Bear Stearns, then the fifth largest investment banking firm in the U.S. The Federal Reserve encouraged it to buy Bear Stearns to prevent it from collapsing. Several months later JPMorgan bought most of the banking operations of Washington Mutual, which was in an FDIC receivership.
In 2002 JPMorgan paid $80M in fines for conflicts of interest in deceiving investors with biased research. Chase paid $2 billion in fines for aiding ane abetting Enron Corporation’s securities fraud, and in 2005 it paid $2.2 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by Enron investors. Also in 2005 it agreed to pay $2 billion to settle a suit over its role in the WorldCom accounting fraud debacle.
In 2009 it agreed to a $722 million settlement in an SEC case over the sales of derivatives in Jefferson County Alabama, after the Birmingham mayor was convicted of 60 counts of bribery, money laundering and tax evasion for the fraudulent bond swaps. The SEC alleged JPMorgan had paid bribes in exchange for the deal.
In 2010 Irving Picard, the Receiver in the Madoff Ponzi scheme case, filed a suit alleging JPMorgan knew or should have known that Madoff’s business was a fraud, and did not report it, and that after it reported the fraud to UK regulators it failed to restrict Madoff’s banking activities until his arrest.
In 2011 JPMorgan admitted wrongfully overcharging thousands of military families on their mortgages, and improperly foreclosed on over 18 families. It agreed to pay $27 million to settle the class action suit.
In 2012 JPMorgan Chase was charged with failing to disclose extremely risky trades that exposed the bank to significant losses. Also in 2012 it and several other banks including Bank of America entered the second largest civil settlement in US history, the National Mortgage Settlement, in which they would together provide about $26 billion in relief to distressed homeowners and the government. And again in 2012 Chase agreed to pay $100 million to settle a Truth in Lending Act lawsuit for overcharging interest on its credit cards.
In 2013 JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $410 million in penalties and disgorgement for manipulating the California energy market in 2010-12. Also in 2013 JPMorgan agreed to pay $13 billion settle an investigation into its mortgage-backed securities. Of that amount, $9 billion was fines and $4 billion was compensation to consumers. The settlement did not resolve criminal charges. A November 2015 Wall Street Journal article said federal prosecutors were still actively pursuing criminal cases against JPMorgan Chase executives for selling flawed mortgage securities. U.S. Targets RBS, J.P. Morgan Executives in Criminal Probes.
Also in 2013 JPMorgan Chase was under investigation for its mortgage-backed securities trading leading up to the 2007-08 financial crisis, and for its “Sons and Daughters” hiring program in which the bank hired children of the Chinese ruling class and kept a record of how the hires led to business deals with state-owned companies.
In 2014 JPMorgan agreed to pay $2.05 billion in fines to settle civil and criminal charges growing out of the Madoff Ponzi scheme. It also agreed to forfeit $1.7 billion, to pay a $350 million fine to the Comptroller of the Currency, and to pay $543 to settle the suit filed by Picard.
JPMorgan was also heavily involved in financing the Thomas Petters investment fraud scheme, but pulled its investments out just before the Ponzi scheme failed.
In 2015 JPMorgan agreed to pay a $595 million settlement to resolve claims it conspired to fix prices and limit competition in the credit default swap market – along with many of the other banking titans the Clintons took speaking fees from between 2013 and 2015.
JPMorgan spends millions on lobbying. In 2014 its PAC and its employees contributed $2.6 million to federal campaigns. In the first three quarters of 2014 it spent $4.7 million on lobbying, with 62% going to Republicans. It also made the maximum donation to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 4/18/2013 | Morgan Stanley | Washington, DC | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
Morgan Stanley is a New York based financial services corporation, formed in 1935 when the Glass-Steagall Act mandated breakup of corporations that combined commercial banking with investment banking. J.P. Morgan & Co. (later JPMorgan Chase, discussed above) took the commercial banking business and Morgan Stanley became the new name for the investment banking corporation.
It grew to its current size by acquiring and merging with many other financial services companies, including (since the 1990s), Van Kampen American Capital, Dean Witter Reynolds, and Discover & Co.
In response to the subprime mortgage crisis, in 2007 Morgan Stanley took a $5 billion investment from China Investment Corporation. It was heavily affected by the real estate bubble, reportedly losing $300 million in one day. It reportedly lost 80% of its market value between 2007 and 2008. Heavily hit by the financial crisis, it explored merger possibilities – including a no cost transfer to JPMorgan Chase, which was turned down by JPMorgan.
In 2008 Morgan Stanley received approval to become a traditional bank regulated by the Federal Reserve (which they had been before splitting off from JP Morgan & Co. in 1935). Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group invested $9 billion in Morgan Stanley in exchange for 21% stake of the company. Also in 2008 it borrowed $107.3 billion from the Federal Reserve during the 2008 crisis – the largest loan the Fed gave any bank.
In 2009 Morgan Stanley purchased Smith Barney, and became the largest wealth management company in the world.
Between 2004 and 2010 there were numerous multi-million dollar settlements of lawsuits and fines for regulatory violations. In 2011 the Justice Department sought a $4.8 million fine for Morgan Stanley’s role in the energy price-fixing scheme. The judge reluctantly approved that amount in 2012, saying the amount was too low. Morgan Stanley made $21.6 million from the transaction. Estimated damage to New York consumers from the fraud was $300 million.
In 2015 Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $230 million settlement to resolve claims it conspired to fix prices and limit competition in the credit default swap market – along with many of the other banking titans the Clintons took speaking fees from between 2013 and 2015.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 1/22/2015 | Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce | Whistler, Canada | Hillary | $150,000.00 |
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is Canada’s fifth largest bank, with 11 million clients and over 40,000 employees and operations in the US, the Caribbean, Asia and UK. In 2012, it was named the strongest bank in Canada and North America by Bloomberg Markets magazine.
In 2003 the US Securities and Exchange Commission fined CIBC $80 million for its involvement in the Enron fraud scheme. Three CIBC executives were able to settle charges without an admission of wrongdoing by paying $1.15 million. CIBC also paid $2.4 billion to settle a class action lawsuit brought by pension funds that were defrauded in the Enron scheme.
In 2004 CIBC agreed to settle a class action suit over markup in its Visa card fees. Also in 2004 it agreed to refund $24 million to customers for erroneous overdraft and mortgage charges.
In 2005, without admitting liability, CIBC agreed to pay $125 million to settle an investigation into its involvement in the 2003 mutual-fund scandal. Also in 2005 CBIC agreed to pay $2.4 billion to settle a suit by investors claiming CIBC helped Enron hide losses from investors.
In 2007 CIBC agreed to refund $27 million to 200,000 customers who were overcharged overdraft fees.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 4/30/2013 | Fidelity Investments | Naples, FL | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
Fidelity Investments is a mutual fund and financial services group – the second largest in the world.
In 2004 Fidelity agreed to pay $2 million to settle charges that in 2001 and 2002 its employees at 88 branch offices altered and destroyed documents that federal regulations required be kept.
In 2007, the National Association of Securities Dealers fined four Fidelity broker-dealers $3.75 million for charges they violated registration, supervision and e-mail retention laws. They settled without admitting or denying the charges.
In 2015 Fidelity paid $500,000 in fines and $530,000 in restitution for failing to detect theft from nine customers, mostly seniors. The investors’ losses totaled more than $1 million, yet only $530,000 was repaid to the victims in the deal.
That same year FINRA fined Fidelity $350,000 for overcharging 20,663 customers’ accounts by approximately $2.4 million.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 4/28/2013 | Zurich Financial Services | New Orleans, LA | Bill | $285,000.00 |
Zurich Insurance Group (formerly Zurich Financial Services) is a Swiss insurance company.
In 2006 Zurich Financial Services paid $171 million to settle a case over big rigging and price fixing in 9 states.
In 2007 a subsidiary, Zurich Capital Markets, paid $16.8 million to settle an SEC case for helping four hedge funds disguise their identities while making frequent trades in mutual fund shares, generating fees at the expense of long term mutual fund shareholders.
In 2010, Zurich agreed to settle a California based class action suit challenging management services fees its subsidiary, Farmers Group, Inc., charged customers between 1999 and 2003, by distributing $455 million to as many as 13 million customers.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 4/10/2013 | Kotak Mahindra Bank | Mumbai, India | Bill | $500,000.00 |
Kotak Mahindra Bank is a bank headquartered in Mumbai, India. It was fourth largest private bank in India in 2014.
In 2013 Kotak was fined 1.5 crore for violating Know Your Customer anti-money laundering standards. In 2015 it was under investigation for money laundering between 2006 and 2014.
In 2015 Kotak was under investigation for money laundering between 2006 and 2014.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 7/26/2014 | Ameriprise | Boston, Ma. | Hillary | $225,500.00 |
Ameriprise Financial, Inc., a former subsidiary of American Express, is an American asset management and financial planning corporation, the largest financial planning company in the U.S. and in the top 25 largest asset managers in the world. In 1998 Securities America, a broker/dealer, was acquired by American Express. When Ameriprise was spun off American Express, Securities America became a subsidiary of Ameriprise.
In 2003 it was fined $5.4 million for letting a broker work under a false name and allegedly making bogus investments.
In 2005 a predecessor (Securities America) agreed to pay $12.3 million to settle National Association of Securities Dealers charges that it was giving favorable treatment to some mutual funds in exchange for brokerage business; another predecessor (American Express Financial Advisors) agreed to pay $7.4 million to settle charges in New Hampshire that it was illegally rewarding its advisers for recommending under-performing mutual funds. Also in 2005 it agreed to a $15 million settlement with the SEC, and another $2 million in fines to the Minnesota Department of Commerce for market timing violations. In 2005, it was also fined $12.3 million for “unsuitable share sales,” but by then Ameriprise had become a separate company and the factual details and disciplinary actions taken were kept secret.
In 2006 the National Association of Securities Dealers threatened to suspend Ameriprise for failing to pay an arbitration award to a former broker. Also in 2006 Securities America agreed to pay $16.3 million to settle a suit brought by Exxon retirees for failing to supervise an associated broker.
In 2007 the NASD fined Securities America $375,000 for improperly sharing brokerage commissions, and a NASD arbitration panel awarded three airline pilots $9.3 million for mishandling their savings. Other airline pilots had pending arbitration proceedings too.
In 2009 the SEC filed an enforcement action against Ameriprise for receiving millions in revenue sharing as a condition of selling real estate investment trusts to its brokerage customers during a period before the spinoff from American Express. Ameriprise paid $17.3 million to settle the charges. A whistleblower suit filed in 2009 was dismissed in 2015 and then set for hearings in 2016. Other whistleblower suits were settled without factual details being revealed.
In 2010 Securities America paid a $40 million penalty and in 2011 it paid a $118 million penalty for its sale of private placement securities issued by Medical Capital and Provident Royalties.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 11/18/2013 | CME Group | Naples, FL | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
CME Group Inc, (Chicago Mercantile Exchange & Chicago Board of Trade) is the largest U.S. futures exchange operator, operating exchanges in Chicago and New York City, and online trading.
2007 – Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) merged with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) to become CME Group Inc.
2008 – CME acquired NYMEX Holdings, Inc., the parent of the New York Mercantile Exchange and Commodity Exchange, Inc (COMEX).
2010 – CME purchased 90% of Dow Jones Indexes, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Dow Jones Indexes became S&P Dow Jones Indices, with CME owning 24.4%.
2010-11 – the Commodities Futures Trading Commission was concerned that “from Nov. 1, 2010 to Oct. 31, 2011, CME staff had opened only 16 EFRP* cases when nearly half a million transactions took place at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade.” [*EFRP transactions are “trades involving Exchange for Related Position.” “Traders use EFRP to exchange an over-the-counter swap or a cash position into an equivalent futures contract. The exchange takes place away from the public marketplace and is reported to CME or CBOT once complete. Regulators want to make sure traders do not use the transactions to hide otherwise prohibited behavior.”]
2012 – CME acquired the Kansas City board of Trade for $126 million.
2013 May – CME fined a former Goldman Sachs partner for unauthorized trades. Former Goldman Sachs Partner Fined for Unauthorized Trades, http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/31/cme-group-sanctions-goldman-sachs-and-top-wall-street-trader/?_r=0
2013 August – “U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in August said CME’s procedures for monitoring EFRP transactions were inadequate and required ‘significant and prompt improvement.’”
2014 – CME began levying fines against traders for violating EFRP rules. CME Group fines traders for transactions that worried regulator, by Tom Polansek, 2/24/2014, Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/cme-fines-efrp-idUSL1N0LT1T320140224 Among other traders, CME fined Deutsche Bank $25,000 for failure to maintain required documents required by the statute.
Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 11/11/2013 | Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association | New York, NY | Bill | $250,000.00 |
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is a U.S. trade group of banking, securities, and asset management companies, set up to lobby for big banking and against consumer controls.
From 2000 to 2008, Bernard Madoff and his brother Peter Madoff donated $56,000 to SIFMA. Each served on its Board of Directors. Peter Madoff was still serving on the board when Bernard Madoff was arrested in 2008, but resigned after Bernard’s arrest. Bernard pleaded guilty to 11 felonies and in 2009 he was sentenced to 150 years. In 2012, Peter Madoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy and falsifying records.
In 2006, SIFMA’s PACs gave over $1 million to political campaigns, making it into the top 25 PACs.
In 2007 SIFMA’s co-CEO resigned after it was revealed that he had approved loans to employees and himself without sufficient authorization while head of a predecessor group.
In the 2008 financial crisis it lost three of its member firms – Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch – and most of its members were in financial straits.
In 2010 SIFMA lobbied against a moratorium on foreclosures, saying it would be “catastrophic” (to the banking industry). SIFMA was criticized for opposing relief for consumers without proposing a constructive solution.
Banking and financial firms on which I found no misconduct
My research did not turn up any scandals, criminal investigations, class action suits or fines for the following corporations.
Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 10/9/2014 | Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. | Napa Valley, CA | Bill | $225,000.00 |
American international asset management firm that usually buys less than 100% of a business, encouraging employees of the bought-out company to buy ¼ to ½ of the company to give them an incentive to increase profits.
Apollo Management Holdings, LP
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 5/14/2013 | Apollo Management Holdings, LP | New York, NY | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
| 5/12/2015 | Apollo Management Holdings, LP | New York, NY | Bill | $250,000.00 |
American private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts, purchases of distressed securities, and consolidations.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 11/13/2014 | Centerview Partners LLC | Carefree AZ | Bill | $225,000.00 |
American investment banking and private equity firm. Clients include over 20% of the 50 largest corporations in the world.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 11/7/2013 | Golden Tree Asset Management | New York, NY | Hillary | $275,000.00 |
One of the largest independent asset managers, with offices in New York and London.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 6/26/2014 | GTCR | Chicago, IL | Hillary | $280,000.00 |
American private equity firm based in Chicago.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 5/23/2013 | Handelsbanken Capital Markets | Stockholm, Sweden | Bill | $750,000.00 |
| 5/23/2013 | Handelsbanken Capital Markets | Stockholm, Sweden | Bill | $100,000.00 |
Swedish bank created in 1871, with branches in 19 countries. When the global financial crisis hit Sweden in 1990, Handelsbanken was the least affected of the major banks.
The chart above appears to have an error – the first two entries are for the same day and the same place, but different fees. This information came from the corporate disclosure forms which are linked on the Clinton campaign website.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 5/16/2013 | Itau BBA USA Securities | New York, NY | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
Itau is a Brazillian company, with the largest trading floor in Latin America. Itau BBA USA Securities is its New York based subsidiary.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 5/6/2014 | Jefferies LLC | Miami FL | Bill | $225,000.00 |
International investment bank headquartered in New York.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Company, LP
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 6/24/2013 | Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Company, LP | Palos Verdes, CA | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
American international private equity firm, headquartered in New York, which specializes in leveraged buyouts.
Sanford C. Bernstein and Co., LLC
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 5/29/2013 | Sanford C. Bernstein and Co., LLC | New York, NY | Hillary | $225,000.00 |
New York based global asset management firm.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 5/20/2014 | SCIP Capital Management, LLC | New York, NY | Bill | $250,000.00 |
There is no listing for SCIP Capital Management, but a search for that name turns up Silverfirm Group.
Standard Life Investments, Ltd.
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 12/4/2013 | Standard Life Investments, Ltd. | Vienna, Austria | Bill | $450,000.00 |
Asset manager headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Thomas Lloyd Global Asset Management
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 1/24/2014 | Thomas Lloyd Global Asset Management | Frankfurt, Germany | Bill | $200,000.00 |
Global investment and advisory company, solely dedicated to the infrastructure sector in Asia.
Veritas Capital Fund Management LLC
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 10/14/2014 | Veritas Capital Fund Management LLC | New York NY | Bill | $250,000.00 |
International private equity firm.
Firm that actively sought banking regulation to prevent fraud and break up the too big to fail banks
| Date | Corporation | Place of speech | Speaker | Speaker fee |
| 10/15/2014 | Citadel LLC | New York NY | Bill | $250,000.00 |
Alas, Citadel was the only banking corporation I found in my research that actively supported return of Glass-Steagall type regulations.
Citadel is the 11th largest hedge fund in the world, and one of only three that have been around over 20 years.
Citadel has a strong focus on ethics and risk management, rating an A in the 2014 Institutional Investor Hedge Fund Report Card.
Kenneth Griffin, Citadel’s founder and CEO, spoke out against the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, spoke out against lobbying to delay the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, urged more transparency on derivatives trading and called for the breakup of the banks that were too big to fail.
In my next blog I will discuss the healthcare industry speeches.
If you see any information you believe is incorrect or know of any documented misconduct by these corporations that was not listed here, please contact Brenda through the Truth and Justice Blog Facebook page. And feel free to leave your comments on this blog’s Facebook page.
