UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ____________________________________ ) THE JAMES MADISON ) PROJECT, et al., ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) Civil Action No. 19-2461 (ABJ) ) DEPARTMENT OF ) THE TREASURY, ) ) Defendant. ) ____________________________________) MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiffs The James Madison Project and Kadhim Shubber submitted a FOIA request to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) on June 7, 2018. They sought documents related to OCC’s review of a number of banks in the wake of the revelation that employees at Wells Fargo, N.A. had opened millions of fake accounts in order to meet the company’s sales goals. See Pls.’ FOIA Request, Ex. A to Decl. of Frank D. Vance, Jr. [Dkt. # 12-2] (“FOIA Request”). Defendant conducted a search and found 669 pages of records responsive to plaintiffs’ request, Def.’s Statement of Undisputed Material Facts [Dkt. # 12-1] (“Def.’s SUMF”) ¶¶ 1–2, and it withheld all of these pages in full pursuant to FOIA Exemptions 5 and 8. Id. ¶ 3; Def.’s Mot. for Summ. J. [Dkt. # 12] (“Def.’s Mot.”). In its motion for summary judgment, defendant argues that it has complied with all of its obligations under FOIA. Def.’s Mot. Plaintiffs opposed the motion arguing that defendants have not justified the applicability of the exemptions as to 34 of the 669 withheld pages. Pls.’ Opp. to Def.’s Mot. [Dkt. # 13] (“Pls.’ Opp.”). 1 For the following reasons, the Court will grant defendant’s motion for summary judgment. BACKGROUND The OCC is an independent bureau within the Department of the Treasury. Compl. [Dkt. # 1] ¶¶ 5–6. It supervises approximately 2,000 national banks and federal savings associations, and it is charged with ensuring that the banks it regulates operate in a safe manner in compliance with laws requiring fair treatment of their customers and fair access to credit and financial products. 12 U.S.C. § 1(a); see generally 12 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. OCC’s supervisory activity includes annual on-site reviews of banks throughout the country to ensure compliance with applicable laws. See 12 U.S.C. §§ 481, 1820(d). OCC also has the power to assess civil money penalties for violations of law. See 12 U.S.C. § 1818. In 2016, OCC issued a Consent Order for a Civil Money Penalty against Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. for “deficiencies and unsafe or unsound practices in the Bank’s risk management and oversight of the Bank’s sales practices.” In re Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Enforcement Action No. 201-079, 2016 WL 9330727, at *1 (O.C.C. Sept. 6, 2016). Soon after, the agency announced that it would conduct a review of forty large and midsize banks and assess the sufficiency of their controls with respect to sales practices. See An Examination of Wells Fargo’s Unauthorized Accounts and the Regulatory Response Before the S. Comm. on Banking, Hous., & Urban Affairs, 114th Cong. 10 (2016) (statement of Thomas J. Curry, Comptroller of the Currency) available at https://www.occ.treas.gov/news-issuances/congressional- testimony/2016/pub-test-2016-115-written.pdf. On June 5, 2018, it became ...
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