Citibank revealed in court docket filings on Wednesday that the FBI, the EPA, the EPA Inspector General, and the Treasury Department have all requested that the financial institution freeze accounts of a number of nonprofits and state authorities companies.
The accounts have been frozen in February, however the brand new paperwork make public particulars that had beforehand been unknown, together with a full record of the nonprofits below FBI scrutiny.
The funds have been disbursed as a part of the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created by the Inflation Reduction Act, a regulation handed by Congress in 2022. Of that, the EPA obtained $14 billion for a National Clean Investment Fund, which gives grants to inexperienced banks.
Green banks use these funds to supply financing for clear expertise tasks across the nation. Startups which have applied sciences which might be able to scale commercially have been eligible to obtain financing to make tasks a actuality.
The funding was principally for use for loans, which have been to be paid again and recycled for future lending. Green banks are inclined to have delinquency charges on par with business and residential portfolios held by different business lenders.
Citibank was chosen because the monetary agent to manage that cash, holding it in accounts below the names of the awardees. It can also be administering a separate, $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator program. The EPA’s contract with Citibank was publicly introduced in April 2024.
The FBI has requested that Citibank place 30-day administrative freezes on accounts held by nonprofits that have been recipients of the inexperienced financial institution funding. It additionally requested the financial institution to freeze different nonprofit and state authorities company accounts, together with Habitat for Humanity, United Way, the Colorado Clean Energy Fund, and New York State’s Department of Taxation and Finance.
Three nonprofits that obtained inexperienced financial institution funds have sued Citibank, asking the financial institution to launch the cash of their accounts.
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin has stated that the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund doesn’t align with the company’s priorities and that he has issues about fraud, although he has not offered proof to help that declare.
