Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, center, listens as President Barack Obama addresses the Business Council in Washington, May 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Tribune staff report | Troubled Chicago lender ShoreBank has received recent interest from Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs for several reasons.
The Tribune reported Wednesday that ShoreBank has generated little interest among strategic buyers, according to banking industry insiders, but it is counting on an infusion of about $75 million in capital from the U.S. Treasury. First, it must line up more than $120 million in capital from various banks. As the Tribune reported, existing investors such as Chase and Bank of America, as well as charitable foundations, are weighing additional investments in ShoreBank.
But Goldman Sachs is a more recent sign-on — the bank agreed to commit about $20 million to ShoreBank.
ShoreBank has strong ties to Washington. The
Wall Street Journal reported Friday that President Barack Obama drew attention to ShoreBank’s micro-lending
efforts while traveling in Nairobi as a senator. And
co-founder and now president Mary Houghton offered advice on small-business lending to the president’s mother, who worked on similar
issues in Asia.
Fox Business Network reporter Charlie Gasparino, who reported Friday
afternoon that ShoreBank is short about $25 million of the $125 million
they need to avoid an FDIC takeover, also noted that Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s senior adviser, served on the board of Chicago Metropolis 2020. Chicago Metropolis 2020 is a civic organization which was run by Adele Simmons, a director at ShoreBank.
Hmmmm, it’s just a coincidence???? Maybe the outfit has moved to DC, a pittance of a penance for GS…but wait they are doing god’s work!! The ultimate farce, GS and other similar Wall Street miscreants belong in Circle 8 or 9 of Dante’s Inferno
Shorebank has ben soliciting deposits from many liberals in the chicago area ever since the 2016 Olympics fell through and left many properties on South Side on which they had made mortgages, under water , financially. However their efforts have failed to raise sufficient capital since many people have been reluctant to deposit funds in a bank that on the FDIC”s watch list. Now that the Feds have some dirt on Goldman , Shore Bank and their friends see an opportunity to extort funds from the larger banks to pump some temporary life into their “zombie” bank. All of a sudden some liberals have begun praising Mr. Blankfein, instead of damming him. I wonder what promises or favors are going to be extended to GS and others in exchange for pouring some of their cash down this rathole?
gee, why is Chicago media tippy-toeing around this? Fear
of persecution. This is a huge scandal pointing directly
at the White House at the very time Americans are sick
and tired of spending and bailouts. Come on Chicago
Media – go after this with some integrity.