Which Regional Bank Does Citigroup Have Its Eye On?

Author:: Bess Levin
Updated:: Jan 14, 2019
Original:: Nov 10, 2008

The Wall StreetJournallets us know this morning that Citi, ready to move on from last month's Wachovia-Wells upset, is on the prowl for new bank. But they won't tell us *which* bank, the scamps. It's unclear if the blind item is as a result of the "people familiar with the situation" not telling the Journal the name of the bank and they actually don't know or if this is just some sick game they're playing with us for sport ("the target's name couldn't be determined" could go a lot of ways). Anyway, here are the clues:
- regional bank
- overlaps geographically with Citigroup's retail-banking unit, which has its highest concentration of branches in the Northeast, California and Texas. A deal could be reached later this month, the people said.
Apparently "insiders" feel that a buy would "pump up morale at Citigroup," since an internal goal at the firm is to get so fat it can't tie its own shoes. Kind of cattily though completely awesomely, the J points out that "any acquisition by Citigroup could feel like a consolation prize, because none of the remaining sellers among U.S. banks comes close to Wachovia in size." Anyway, tell us who it is now.

Yesterday afternoon, Deutsche Bank vice chairman and managing director Brian Mulligan filed a claim with the city of Los Angeles, letting it be known that he plans on suing for $50 million, over an altercation with the LAPD that left Mulligan with "a broken shoulder blade and 15 nasal fractures." According to the media banker, he was minding his own business one night in May, when a couple of officers approached him, asked him what he was doing in the vicinity of a marijuana dispensary, searched his car (where they found a few thousand dollars), drove him to a motel and told him to wait there. Several hours later, still waiting, Mulligan says he started to become suspicious and decided to leave, at which point the officers returned and "began ruthlessly beating him" so badly he "barely looked human" when they were done. If this had happened to you, you might be a little upset too! The LAPD, however, claims that Mulligan has no reason to be angry with them and, in fact, owes the officers an apology, for his "outburst of erratic behavior." The police version begins with a complaint about a man going through cars in a Jack-in-the-Box in the Highland Park area, according to LAPD Officer Cleon Joseph. Moments later, a second call came from another person about a man in the same area who appeared to be on drugs and trying to break into cars...The officers determined Mulligan matched the description of the suspect, but a police drug recognition expert determined he was not under the influence of drugs. Joseph said he could not clarify whether that included alcohol. Officers then searched Mulligan's car and found thousands of dollars, Joseph said. Mulligan told the officers that he was exhausted, so the officers agreed to transport him to a motel, Joseph said. But first, they had to count the executive's cash to make sure it was all still there after they transported him to the hotel, Joseph explained. The officers gave Mulligan's money back to him, drove him to the motel and left him, concluding their response, Joseph said. A few hours later, at about 1 a.m., police received another call from the same area, this time about a man running in traffic. Officers observed Mulligan in the street, Joseph said. He defied officers' orders to get out of the street, and instead went into a fighting stance and charged at the officers, according to Joseph. Officers tackled Mulligan and took control of him, Joseph said. During the take-down, the executive sustained injuries that required hospitalization. Police reported the incident as a categorical use of force and are conducting a standard investigation to determine if the force was necessary. Mulligan was charged with resisting arrest and interfering with law enforcement. He was booked on $25,000 bail and was released from jail on May 18. Despite Mulligan acting in such a way that some people thought required "force" to deal with, a spokesman for the LA County DA's office said that there are no plans to file criminal charges and that the office would simply like to "have a discussion with him and advise him on how best to follow the law so that incidents like this don’t occur again." Brian Mulligan, Deutsche Bank Executive, Says He'll Sue LAPD Alleging Captive Beating [HP] Deutsche Bank Top Hollywood Banker Claims Police Beating [Bloomberg]

[Mike Corbat wipes sweat off brow.]