We Texans love our guns, and therefore our gun stores. So when some Noo Yawk assholes start fucking around with the latter, we take action:
Citigroup Inc. is once again facing an ouster from the booming Texas municipal-bond market after the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office determined the bank “discriminates” against the firearms industry.
The ruling indicates that the New York-based bank runs afoul of a Republican-backed law passed nearly two years ago that bars most government contracts with companies that engage in anti-gun business practices. The decision appears to halt the bank’s ability to underwrite most municipal-bond offerings in the state.
It’s a whipsaw moment for Citigroup. The bank had temporarily halted its work in the Texas muni market after the law went into effect in September 2021 but had revived that business two months later, saying it complies with the law. Paxton’s ruling ends a months-long probe into Citi’s corporate policy.
“It has been determined that Citigroup has a policy that discriminates against a firearm entity or firearm trade association,” Leslie Brock, assistant attorney general chief of the public finance division, wrote in the letter.
The determination means that Citigroup’s so-called standing letter, a document that had thus far allowed the bank to underwrite debt in one of the nation’s largest public bond markets, has been rejected, according to a Jan. 18 letter distributed to lawyers and viewed by Bloomberg.
“Therefore, until further notice, we will not approve any public security issued on or after today’s date in which Citigroup purchases or underwrites the public security, or in which Citigroup is otherwise a party to a covered contract relating to the public security,” according to the letter.
Of course, Citi’s acting all butt-hurt:
“We’re disappointed with the decision and will remain engaged with the Texas AG office to review our options,” said Mark Costiglio, a Citigroup spokesperson, in an emailed statement. “Citi has been financing public works in Texas for more than 150 years and we currently have more than 8,500 employees who call Texas home. As we’ve said previously, Citi does not discriminate against the firearms sector and believe we are in compliance with Texas law.”
Well, our legal guys say you do, and therefore you aren’t.
Yankee shitheads. Fuck ’em.
we need this law at the Federal level. I’m not a big fan of government intervention but sometimes we do need the government to pass laws that stop this sort of discrimination.
JQ
Considering that it’s a Constitutional matter, it’s one of the few occasions where we absolutely need either a national law (preferred) or a SCOTUS ruling.
Notice the misdirection. Watch the shiny object and pay no attention to what we are doing with our OTHER hand !
‘financing public works in Texas for more than 150 years and we currently have more than 8,500 employees who call Texas home.’
Neither of which has a damn thing to do with what you are doing N O W !!!
So you been getting these contracts for 150 years, so, so what ?
Again, having ~8500 employees call Texas home, so what ?
We’re not watching the shiny object ANY MORE ! Change YOUR rules or
get the hell out !
I’d love to see y’all replace Abbott with Paxton ere long. The gov strikes me as a right leaning apparatchick whose extended wet finger is relied upon far too often. Paxton is a conservative warrior who takes no prisoners.
I’m hoping tor a Texas Tort Tornado with a class action by Texas CitiGroup shareholders in a Texas court with a Texas jury against the CitiGroup directors for breach of fiduciary duty.