In the fall NLPC submitted a shareholder proposal with the intention for it to be considered at the annual meeting of Bank of America this spring. The resolution called upon the company to answer for the willful release of credit card data of its customers who conducted transactions in the Washington, DC area on the dates surrounding the incident at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 — without requiring a warrant, subpoena, or the FBI even asking for the records. The proposal was based on the findings in three separate reports released last year by the Weaponization Subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan.
To avoid accountability to its shareholders and further embarrassment at its annual meeting, Bank of America deployed its high-powered lawyers at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to argue to the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company be allowed to exclude our proposal from consideration, based upon rule technicalities and the inconsistent, subjective decision-making of the SEC’s referees. Unfortunately the Commission ruled late Wednesday in favor of the bank.
Fred Lucas of The Daily Signal reported on the development on Thursday:
“If President [Donald] Trump wants to get rid of weaponization against political foes, he should know that his SEC let Bank of America off the hook for assisting in weaponization of government,” Paul Chesser, the director of the Corporate Integrity Project for the NLPC, told The Daily Signal…
In its February response letter to Mueller’s assertion, Chesser told the SEC that the House findings should mean the matter transcends ordinary business and is related to a significant policy issue.
“What could be more important than the weaponization of government for political purposes?” Chesser told The Daily Signal. “President Trump referenced weaponization in his address to Congress. We based our shareholder proposal on Congressman Jim Jordan’s panel on weaponization report.”
He added, “Bank of America just vomited up D.C. area credit card transactions in the Jan. 6 timeframe. Even if you bought a hot dog in the D.C. area [with a credit card] your name was turned over to the FBI.”
Read the full Daily Signal report here. The news site’s previous report on NLPC’s Bank of America proposal can be found here.
