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Citigroup
received a "one-two punch" when hundreds of community leaders descended
on the home of a Citgroup board member and the next day infiltrated
the offices of Citgroup's top lobbyist during the 30th annual National
People's Action Conference.
Eight school buses full of NPA leaders wound their way through wealthy
streets lined with mansions and foreign embassies until they reached
the front door of Citigroup board member, Ann Dibble Jordan, to demand
she set up a meeting with Citigroup top-executive and former Secretary
of the Treasury, Robert Rubin.
While Jordan was home, she wouldn't come to the door.
"She knew we were there," said Minister Frankie Freeney of Nobel Neighbors
in Chicago, IL. "We will be back and we won't stop until they talk with
us."
Jordan sits on two committees for Citigroup, owns $915,000 of Citigroup
stock and receives $125,000 a year for sitting on the Citigroup board.
Leaders testified outside Jordan's home to the destructive and discriminatory
lending practices engaged in by Citigroup and its sup prime affiliates.
Freeney added that loan sharks and mortgage companies, with Citigroup
topping that list, are known for predatory lending practices that "have
started foreclosures, with those numbers increasing over the years and
have destroyed the communities."
Freeney's second mortgage was through the Associates, which is known
as the worst predatory lender in the nation and was bought by Citigroup
late last year.
The Secret Service arrived but promised that Jordan would receive a
packet of information put together by NPA.
In a letter to Jordan, NPA groups explained that they would not back
down.
"Without an agreement, NPA can only expect that Citigroup will continue
to target our neighborhoods with predatory home loans and deny most
Americans access to affordable, prime-rate loans. As a top corporate
official with a history of civic responsibility, we are counting on
you to take the first move in addressing Citigroup's irresponsible lending
practices and policies," the letter stated.
The next day, the leadership team made it into the offices of Roger
Levy, Citigroup's chief lobbyist. The team was able to travel throughout
the offices unstopped and leaflet information on Citigroup's predatory
lending practices and NPA's demands to stop them.
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