Latest / Burn the Playbook with Michael Starr Hopkins / Trump Pardoned the Banker. What Does His Company Want From Treasury?

Transcript

Trump Pardoned the Banker. What Does His Company Want From Treasury? · Burn the Playbook with Michael Starr Hopkins

• 0:00
  Trump pardoned Julio Herrera Velutini. His bank group's lobbying account now names Treasury and a lobbyist whose firm says she still serves on presidential intelligence boards.
• 0:10
  What the group wants Treasury to change remains unanswered. It's October twenty-second, twenty twenty-six. The filings identify an agency and people with access to power. They do not prove a payoff. Start with the bank.
• 0:23
  In September twenty twenty-three, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, assessed a fifteen million dollar civil penalty against Bancredito International Bank and Trust.
• 0:33
  The bank admitted willful Bank Secrecy Act violations running from twenty fifteen through twenty twenty-two. That is a penalty assessed against the bank.
• 0:41
  Keep it separate from the lobbying income and political contributions that come later. Herrera Velutini founded Bancredito.
• 0:48
  In twenty twenty-two, the Justice Department charged him in a bribery case involving Puerto Rico's former governor. Those charges were allegations. The records described here establish no bribery conviction.
• 0:59
  The Associated Press reported on August twenty-seventh, twenty twenty-five, that he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor campaign finance offense, a separate matter.
• 1:07
  On January fifteenth, twenty twenty-six, Trump signed a full and unconditional pardon in the twenty twenty-two case. An amended grant signed January twentieth expressly covers the separate twenty twenty-five case.
• 1:19
  His lawyers filed acceptance on January twenty-second. Acceptance and a request for dismissal are not the court's dismissal order. Now follow the lobbying account.
• 1:29
  Ballard Partners, which Bloomberg Government calls Trump-linked, registered Chris Kison Associates on behalf of Bancredito Holding Corporation effective November first, twenty twenty-five.
• 1:39
  The client arrangement concerns the holding company, distinct from the bank. Four quarterly reports followed, each reporting six hundred thirty thousand dollars.
• 1:48
  Together, they report two million five hundred twenty thousand dollars in firm lobbying income. That is neither a cash payment traced to the bank nor anyone's personal pay.
• 1:57
  Two reports said no activity while still reporting that income. Six hundred thirty thousand dollars with no activity reported. Washington has found a very expensive way to leave a form blank.
• 2:09
  What work did the income cover? The filings do not explain. No reported activity does not establish that nobody performed work. The October sixteenth report brings the question to Treasury.
• 2:20
  It lists banking regulatory restrictions and requirements, names Treasury for the first time in these four reports, and adds Amarillis Fox Kennedy.
• 2:28
  Her background in the filing includes CIA clandestine officer, deputy director of national intelligence, and an intelligence and international affairs role at the Office of Management and Budget.
• 2:38
  It also lists the President's Intelligence Advisory Board for twenty twenty-five through twenty twenty-six. Ballard's biography says she continues serving on that board and the Intelligence Oversight Board.
• 2:49
  It says her budget office duties included international treasury programs. Those are the firm's claims. Continued government service has not been confirmed here. Her presence does not establish wrongdoing.
• 3:00
  It makes the unanswered question concrete. Which banking restriction does this client want changed? One more set of numbers needs its own explanation. MAGA Inc.
• 3:08
  reported two receipts from Isabella Herrera, two and a half million dollars on December thirty-first, twenty twenty-four, and one million dollars on July twenty-second, twenty twenty-five.
• 3:18
  Together, three and a half million dollars. On February seventeenth, twenty twenty-six, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint saying she is related to the banker and alleging a foreign-funded straw donation.
• 3:29
  That remains an allegation, not an FEC finding. The records described here show no money moving among the civil penalty, the firm's reported income, and those political receipts.
• 3:39
  Adding them into one pot would invent a transaction. Bancredito Holding offers its own explanation. It says it seeks to recover assets and establish accountability.
• 3:48
  Lobbying on banking rules can serve a lawful purpose like that. These records do not rule it out, show a favor granted, or establish a personal payout.
• 3:56
  For the public, the stake is whether decisions about banking rules can be understood beyond the names of people hired to influence them. A pardon, a lobbying account, and political contributions warrant questions.
• 4:07
  They do not supply their own answers. The fourth quarter report may help show whether Treasury remains part of this account. Until then, the central question stays open.
• 4:16
  Treasury, what does this bank group want you to change, and who in your building is deciding? Subscribe free at BurnThePlaybook.news for the reporting and next update. [upbeat music]