Soon after federal authorities shut down Silicon Valley Bank, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that he would donate money collected from the bank’s former CEO and PAC to charity.
Schumer, according to a source who spoke with CNBC about the situation, will donate the money he received from Silicon Valley Bank’s former CEO Greg Becker and the bank’s political action committee. A Schumer representative verified the CNBC report to The Hill on Tuesday.
According to the Federal Election Commission, Becker gave Schumer’s campaign $5,800 in June of 2021. Open Secrets, a non-profit that keeps tabs on campaign donations, reports that the bank’s PAC gave $2,700 to Schumer during the 2016 election cycle.
Politico reported on Tuesday that Democratic California representative Maxine Waters had announced she would return a $2,500 gift from Silicon Valley Bank’s political action committee.
On Friday, federal regulators took action to close Silicon Valley Bank, making it the worst bank collapse since the 2008 banking crisis and causing widespread worry in the financial and tech sectors over the weekend. The bank was sold at auction by regulators over the weekend, and customers were given access to their money again on Monday.
All deposits at Silicon Valley Bank were transferred over the weekend to the newly founded Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, a “bridge bank” run by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The new bank’s chief executive officer welcomed customers back on Tuesday and declared the establishment “open for business.”
