Capital Briefs: OCC Releases Documents On Chase-U.S. Trust Deal

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency complied last week with a federal court order requiring it to turn over seven documents pertaining to Chase Manhattan Corp.'s purchase of several businesses from United States Trust Company of New York.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence M. McKenna had ruled that the OCC improperly withheld the documents from the Bronx-based activist organization Inner City Press/Community on the Move.

He ordered the OCC to release financial data, factual summaries, and legal memorandums used by the agency in approving the 1995 deal.

The agency had refused to release seven documents, saying they were covered by exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act. The judge rejected that argument, saying the data was either already publicly available, or failed to qualify for any of a number of exemptions, including the one for attorney-client privilege.

OCC officials declined to comment.

Inner City Press sued the OCC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in the fall of 1995, charging the agencies failed to account for Chase's Community Reinvestment Act record when they approved the purchase.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER