Wells Fargo Is Selling Its $10 Billion Student Loan Book

Over the past two years, Wells Fargo has been caught in a vicious purgatory: on one hand, the consent order the bank signed with the Fed in 2018 in response to the bank's chronic criminal activity limits it from arbitrarily growing its balance sheet with its assets under constant observation by the Fed; on the other, with Wells' net interest margin collapsing…

… the bank desperately needs to either issue higher margin loans or somehow unlock balance sheet space to issue debt that results in a higher yield. And throughout all of this, Wells urgently need to make sure its liquidity is generous in case there is another market crisis.

In an attempt to wiggle out of this smothering vice, Wells Fargo is reportedly exploring a sale of its corporate-trust unit that could fetch more than $1 billion and is also considering whether to find a buyer for its $10 billion student-loan portfolio, which follows a notification of Wells customer earlier this month that it plans to exit from the student-lending business.

The relatively boring but cash-flow generating corporate-trust business provides trust and agency services in connection with public and private debt securities. It’s part of the firm’s commercial bank, which serves businesses that typically have more than $5 million in annual sales.

According to Bloomberg, the corporate-trust process is ongoing and Wells Fargo is handling the potential divestiture itself; at the same time Warren Buffet's formerly favorite bank is also exploring a sale of its $607 billion asset manager and expects to receive bids by the end of the month.

The corporate-trust process is ongoing and Wells Fargo is handling the potential divestiture itself, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private. The San Francisco-based bank is also exploring a sale of its $607 billion asset manager and expects to receive bids by the end of the month, as reported last week.

Some speculate that Wells' decision to sell its entire student loan business is confirmation the bank is scrambling ahead of what may be uniform loan forgiveness by the Biden administration (Liz Warren has been especially vocal on the topic) and the result would be major impairment for any private-sector issuer of such loans. Alternatively, it may simply mean that the hurdle for the Fed to buy such student loans remains high and a far greater economic shock would be needed before banks can dump their exposure to the central bank (at par or higher).

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wells-fargo-selling-its-10-billion-student-loan-book

Toddler Sexual Abuse Investigation Leads To 3 Alleged Adult Victims

Magnolia, Texas — On Thursday, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search and arrest warrant operation for Felipe de Jesus Ledezma-Arellano at a residence on Springwood Dr. Magnolia, Texas. The operation was conducted with the assistance of the US Marshals Service, the FBI, and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. During the execution of this operation, Felipe was located and taken into custody on a sexual assault warrant.

This has been an extensive and ongoing investigation by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Special Victim’s Unit. The initial report indicated that a two year old female child was possibly a victim of sexual abuse at a Magnolia residence. As Detectives investigated further, they identified three additional adult female victims in this case that were subjected to prolonged periods of domestic violence and sexual abuse at the hands of Felipe.

Ledezma was arrested for sexual assault and booked in the Montgomery County Jail with a $30,000 bond and has since been released after posting bond.

Due to the number of victims in this case that have already been identified, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is asking that any women who may have been romantically involved with Felipe De Jesus Ledezma-Arellano, contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office immediately at 936-760-5800

https://breaking911.com/toddler-sexual-abuse-investigation-leads-to-3-alleged-adult-victims/

He was caught with child porn while on probation for the same offense. He’ll now do 11 years in prison.

St. Charles, Illinois — 33-year-old David C. Schiferl on Oct. 23, 2020, agreed to a sentence of 11 years of imprisonment in the Illinois Department of Corrections in exchange for a guilty plea to the offense of possession of child pornography of a victim younger than 13 with the intent to disseminate, a felony.

In addition to the prison term, Schiferl must register for life as a sexual offender in accordance with the Illinois Sexual Offender Registration Act.

Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Engerman stated in court that investigators with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and the Carpentersville Police Department traced suspected pornographic images of a child to Schiferl’s home.

They served a search warrant at his home on Aug, 23, 2018, and found an image of

a child being sexually abused on Schiferl’s mobile phone. Schiferl admitted that the image belonged to him.

Schiferl at the time was serving a sentence of probation for a 2017 Lake County

conviction for possession of child pornography.

Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said, “Child pornography is a form of child abuse and has long-term consequences for victims. Images often linger in cyberspace for years, repeatedly victimizing the child, even into adulthood. This defendant belongs in prison.”

https://breaking911.com/he-was-caught-with-child-porn-while-on-probation-for-the-same-offense-hell-now-do-11-years-in-prison/

US State Department OKs Possible Sale to Taiwan for 100 Harpoon Defense Systems Amid China Tensions

The US State Department has approved the possible sale to Taiwan of 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems and their associated anti-ship missiles - a deal that would cost an estimated $2.37 billion.

In what could potentially be another massive weapons sale to Taiwan, the US State Department has given its approval to a potential deal to sell Taipei 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems, 400 RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II surface-launched anti-ship missiles, four exercise missiles, 25 radar trucks, and a host of other related equipment. According to the Monday announcement, the deal could cost $2.37 billion.

The administration of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen noted its interest in the Harpoon missile systems in May. The Republic of China Armed Forces already use the air-launched version of the Harpoon, the AGM-84.

While the RGM-84 is designed to be launched from surface warships, the missile is also capable of being fired from land-based installations or even trucks; however, only the Royal Danish Navy has been known to operate such a system, which was retired in 2003.

On October 21, the US State Department approved two other massive sales to Taiwan: $436 million in High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and their missiles and $1 billion in AGM-84H Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) weapons and related equipment. The SLAM-ER is a land attack derivative of the Harpoon.

https://sputniknews.com/asia/202010261080884347-us-state-department-oks-possible-sale-to-taiwan-for-100-harpoon-defense-systems-amid-china-tensions/