© Reuters
President Donald Trump passes his adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner during a Hanukkah Reception at the White House in Washington, D.C., December 7, 2017.
The Trump administration has waived part of the punishment for five megabanks whose affiliates were convicted and fined for manipulating global interest rates.
One of the Trump administration waivers was granted to Deutsche Bank - which is owed at least $130 million by President Donald Trump and his business empire, and has also been
fined for its role in a Russian money laundering scheme.
The waivers were issued in a
little-noticed announcement published in the Federal Register during the Christmas holiday week. They come less than two years after then-candidate Trump
promised "I'm not going to let Wall Street get away with murder."
Under laws designed to protect retirement savings, financial firms whose affiliates have been convicted of violating securities statutes are effectively barred from the lucrative business of managing those savings. However,
that punishment can be avoided if the firms manage to secure a special exemption from the U.S. Department of Labor, allowing them to keep their status as "qualified professional asset managers."
In late 2016, the Obama administration
extended temporary one-year waivers to five banks - Citigroup, JPMorgan, Barclays, UBS and Deutsche Bank. Late last month, the Trump administration issued new, longer waivers for those same banks, granting Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Barclays five-year exemptions. UBS and Deutsche Bank received three-year exemptions.
Comment: That Pakistan is no longer US ally is a much bigger deal than you think