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November 13th, 2009 
miss world 2009 A bank that received .6 billion in bailout money just spent a fortune last week in L.A. hosting a series of lavish parties and concerts with famous singers … and TMZ cameras caught it all.
Northern Trust, a Chicago-based bank, sponsored the Northern Trust Open at the Riviera Country Club in L.A. We’re told Northern Trust paid millions to sponsor the PGA event which ended Sunday, but what happened off the golf course is even more shocking.
Northern Trust flew hundreds of clients and employees to L.A. and put many of them up at some of the fanciest and priciest hotels in the city. We’re told more than a hundred people were put up at the Beverly Wilshire in Bev Hills, and another hundred stayed at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. Still more stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey and others at Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica.
Here are the highlights:
- Wednesday, Northern Trust hosted a fancy dinner at the Ritz followed by a performance by the group Chicago.
- Thursday, Northern Trust rented a private hangar at the Santa Monica Airport for dinner, followed by a performance by Earth, Wind & Fire.
- Saturday, Northern Trust had the entire House of Blues in West Hollywood shut down for its private party. We got the menu — guests dined on seared salmon and petite Angus filet. Dinner was followed by a performance by none other than Sheryl Crow.
There was also a fabulous cocktail party at the Loews. And how’s this for a nice touch — female guests at the Chicago concert all got trinkets from….TIFFANY AND CO.
As for what all that costs, well the company isn’t talking. We spoke with a rep from the band Chicago who said Northern Trust paid them around 0,000. A House of Blues source told us it cost more than ,000 to close the joint down last Saturday night. As for Sheryl Crow’s fee, her rep didn’t get back to us. Earth, Wind & Fire acknowledges payment but won’t say how much.
As for the golf tournament, a rep from the PGA told us Northern Trust wrote one big fat check in order to sponsor the event. That check covers part of the .3 million purse, the advertising costs for the spots on CBS (which broadcast the final two rounds of the tournament) and operating costs. The rep says the fee was negotiated and is confidential.
Lots of people from Northern Trust went to the golf tourney … in special Mercedes that shuttled them to and from the hotels. But for those who weren’t into golfing, they could spend a few hours at the Northern Trust seminar on the credit crunch.
Now how’s this for outrage? Northern Trust laid off 450 workers in December, 4% of its workforce.
Here’s what’s absolutely amazing — the United States Government flat out gave Northern Trust the .6 billion in bailout money, and the bank didn’t even request it!
Northern Trust gave us a statement yesterday before going total radio silence. A rep for the bank acknowledges they paid for the events, but that the bailout money did not pay for the events. He claims it was paid out of the bank’s operating expenses. Here’s Northern Trust’s full statement to us.
Perhaps we’re missing something, but money is money. How can they spend like this when they’re using taxpayer’s money, whether they asked for it or not? And where the hell is Congress in all of this? Is there any oversight or accountability?
Your tax dollars, hard at work. Thomas Jefferson was right — "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing."
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS?
http://www.tmz.com/2009/02/24/northern-trust-bank-bailout/2#comments
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Well, in one respect Northern Trust is correct: when the last administration handed out the TARP money, they INSISTED that every major bank in the US accept some, because the government didn’t want the population to decide that some banks were bad, and others okay, based on who needed bailout money. Northern did NOT need the money, although they did need to do some budget cutting, hence the layoffs.
Another thing the last administration did, however, that made it difficult for these banks to simply "give it back" was to restrict the kind of sources the banks could use to raise the money they gave back… again, to stop them from simply accepting the cash to play along with the charade, then turn around and give it back on the quiet to avoid looking like one of the "poor" banks any longer. The "give back" rules were very strict, and even those who were in good shape couldn’t meet them, at least not right away.
Now, it seems the "new" laws passed WILL allow the banks much more leeway, and the banks who don’t NEED the money will be able to give it back. Let’s hope Northern Trust does it, quickly, to prove their claim they never needed it in the first place.
One other thing to keep in mind: Yeah, they spent a lot of money, but money doesn’t fizzle into thin air. All the people they PAID receive that money, they get to keep working, and they turn around and spend it doing something else that keeps someone ELSE working, and so on… It really is the same principle as if the government suddenly starts spending money like crazy to jump start the economy, only Northern Trust was spending the money privately.
The government will continue to let them do this sort of thing. Twenty bucks says this isn’t the last story of lavish spending we will hear about. About makes you want to puke, eh?
Speaking of a long one…I have a mouthful of awesomeness, for you.
sux
Things have gotten to the point that we can no longer look to Gov’t for help they are the problem and are vested in the problems to the point that we are their enemies. When enough people in power outside of the Gov’t decide to do something about it then there will be real change. Obama, Republicans, all of them are owned by the same people they are bailing out. We are only here to feed them as they betray us.
This is very simple, Northern Trust needs to give ALL of the Bail Out money BACK, NOW. President Obama has said that he will call out any one who is misusing funds so it looks like he should get to calling. OR, they have not used Bail-out money for this affair then it appears that they are not in need of the bail out funds and should return the funds post haste.