Free Republic

Brief represents the first time the Trump administration has weighed in on green investing issues.. The Federal Trade Commission is throwing its weight behind a high-profile federal lawsuit led by 12 Republican-led states accusing three of the world's largest asset managers—BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard—of artificially constricting the coal market in violation of U.S. antitrust laws, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. The filing in the case is a remarkable move that represents the first time the Trump administration has waded directly into an issue or case related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies. Led by powerful asset managers...

The Big Three used the power they derive from investing other people’s money to force compliance with a radical political goal. A recent House Judiciary Committee report details how America’s largest financial institutions, colluding with climate activists, imposed radical environmental policies on the American economy, subverting both our self-government and free markets. It focuses on the successful effort to insert climate activist directors on the board of energy giant ExxonMobil. According to the report, there is “substantial evidence of a ‘climate cartel’ of financial institutions” including the “Big Three” asset managers (BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard), several massive state pension...

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation gave a fresh deadline of Feb. 10 to BlackRock to resolve an issue regarding oversight into the asset manager’s investments in FDIC-regulated banking organizations, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter. The FDIC may open an investigation into BlackRock and demand more information from the company if it fails to make sufficient progress toward resolving the issues, the report said. The move by the FDIC follows a Jan. 10 deadline that BlackRock failed to meet, according to the report. snip BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street now collectively control some...

According to the lawsuit, the three asset managers acquired substantial stockholdings in coal companies, and then used their influence to pressure the companies to adopt ESG goals and reduce output. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with 10 other state attorney generals, have filed a lawsuit against BlackRock, State Street Corporation, and Vanguard Group, three of the largest institutional investors in the world. The lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges the firms conspired to artificially constrict the market for coal through anti-trade practices. “Texas will not tolerate the illegal weaponization of the financial industry in service of a destructive, politicized ‘environmental’ agenda....

Attorney General Ken Paxton sued BlackRock, State Street Corporation, and Vanguard Group, three of the largest institutional investors in the world, for conspiring to artificially constrict the market for coal through anticompetitive trade practices. Over several years, the three asset managers acquired substantial stockholdings in every significant publicly held coal producer in the United States, thereby gaining the power to control the policies of the coal companies. Using their combined influence over the coal market, the investment cartel collectively announced in 2021 their commitment to weaponize their shares to pressure the coal companies to accommodate “green energy” goals. To achieve...

A groundbreaking lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas accuses financial giants BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street of colluding to manipulate the U.S. coal market. The case, spearheaded by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and supported by 10 other state attorneys general, alleges that these firms have used their substantial ownership stakes in major coal producers to suppress competition and artificially raise energy prices. The states listed as plaintiffs are” Texas Alabama Arkansas Indiana Iowa Kansas Missouri Montana Nebraska West Virginia Wyoming According to the 108-page complaint, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street collectively...

The leftist extremism of ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC (and its cable affiliate MSNBC) is well-documented. However, what rarely gets mentioned is that the woke reporting emanating from these networks aligns with that of the leftist ESG asset manager giants that own the biggest portion of their stock.

The House Judiciary Committee is probing whether the firms' environmental, social, and governance standards violated anti-trust laws.. he House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors in its investigation into whether their adoption of environmental, social and governance standards violated U.S. anti-trust laws. The committee, led by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), is probing whether the two investment managers entered into collusive agreements to decarbonize their assets under management and reach net zero emissions by 2050 in ways that could violate anti-competitive laws. The committee issued the subpoena on Friday, claiming that the documents handed over by both firms...

International Man: With nearly $10 trillion in assets under management (AUM), BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager. The company exploded in size after the 2008 financial crisis, and that’s no coincidence. Central banks around the world have printed scores of trillions since then. A significant portion of that freshly created money eventually found its way into the stock market, specifically BlackRock’s exchange-traded funds (ETFs). BlackRock was also responsible for helping the Federal Reserve manage its massive debt portfolio after 2008. It’s another indication of BlackRock’s cozy relationship with the government. BlackRock is a good illustration of the Cantillon Effect—those...

The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday sent letters to several asset managers and climate organizations over potential antitrust violations related to "decarbonization" agreements between firms as part of a larger investigative inquiry into Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices in the financial sector. ESG investing is the practice of using investor capital to advance non-financial goals, among them those outlined in ESG initiatives. Conservative critics have contended that the practice may constitute a breach of an asset manager's fiduciary duties to its investors. The Judiciary Committee in June issued a subpoena to climate group Ceres over a concern that its...

House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan and two other House Republicans sent four letters to the heads of massive companies such as BlackRock and Vanguard, calling on them to explain corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts that could violate federal antitrust laws. The Daily Caller first obtained copies of the letters, which were sent Thursday to the heads of Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street. Jordan was joined by Republican North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop and Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie. In all of the letters, the lawmakers say the companies appear to...

Woke governance that has sent profits spiraling at companies like Anheuser-Busch and Target often begins with lefty investment firms pressuring them to push products their way, an ex-top Anheuser-Busch exec said. ... Anson Frericks said behind-the-scenes politicking from firms like New York-based BlackRock and Pennsylvania-based Vanguard spur many of the controversial decisions sparking nationwide boycotts from longtime more conservative customers — such as the ill-fated Bud Light promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney He said BlackRock, Vanguard, and another firm, State Street, manage about $20 trillion in capital and use their clout to promote agenda politics being pushed on them...

Big US financial groups Charles Schwab, State Street and M&T suffered almost $60bn in combined bank deposit outflows in the first quarter as customers continued to move their money in search of higher returns. The deposit flight has been turbocharged by the collapse last month of Silicon Valley Bank and two other US lenders, with cash moving out of bank accounts at a pace not seen since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. In a fresh sign of the threat to traditional banks, Apple and Goldman Sachs on Monday announced the launch of a new savings account in the...

(Reuters) - Vanguard Group's decision last month to quit a key climate change coalition underscores how the retail investors who dominate its client base focus less on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) priorities than institutional investors. Vanguard said last month it would drop out of the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative, whose members commit to making their investment portfolios emission-neutral by 2050. It said 80% of its close to $8 trillion in assets are in its index funds, which primarily attract retail investors. These funds generally do not have discretion to include or exclude stocks beyond a pre-set...

AFitchburg man who faced the greatest number of looting-related criminal charges for a riot Downtown last year that followed a protest over the police custody death of a Minneapolis man pleaded guilty Tuesday to all eight of the felony charges against him as part of an agreement that placed him in a deferred prosecution program. Under the agreement between Anthony M. Torres, 21, and District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, Torres could come away with no felony convictions if he completes requirements of the Deferred Prosecution Program, which is run by the DA’s office. Five of the eight felonies would be dismissed...

Lack of representation in corporate boardrooms is not because of mythical white privilege. It is due to the breakdown of the black family.We haven’t yet reached the spectacle in which woke workplace zealots demand that NBA teams suit up at least one black, one white, one Asian, and one Hispanic player in their starting line-ups, but some private workplaces are coming close. The human resources protocols of one of the world’s largest financial investment firms are taking woke quotas to a surreal new level.According to the Times of London, hiring managers at State Street Global Advisors will need to seek...

No quote from Bloomberg allowed, store here.

SNIPPET: At about 12:20 a.m., a train was delayed at the Harrison stop at 608 S. State Street after an unidentified man got on the CTA intercom at the station and said he had left a bomb on the train, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro." SNIPPET: "All trains, northbound and southbound on the Red Line tracks were stopped while police investigated, Alfaro said. Police swept the train and found no device, Alfaro said. As of 2:10 a.m., all services had been restored, Alfaro said."

As the State Street crowd turned suddenly riotous early Sunday morning, police resorted to the use of pepper spray to quell the horde of Halloween revelers for the fourth year in a row. Madison’s Halloween tradition is now in jeopardy, as indicated by a release Sunday from Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Police Chief Noble Wray, which raised serious questions about the future of the event. Discussions to cancel the event or limit it are expected to ensue over the course of next year.

Backing off denials that he had lobbied firms that do business with the city to help fund the Democratic National Convention, Mayor Thomas M. Menino now acknowledges he personally asked at least two companies with city contracts to pony up for the 2004 event. Menino had told the Herald that during fund-raising sessions at the Parkman House, he and U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy placed joint calls to officials from Liberty Mutual Group and State Street Corp.