U.S. Sen. Scott Brown yesterday refused to return $50,000 in contributions from donors with the troubled firm JPMorgan Chase where executives announced last week they lost $2 billion due to risky investments — prompting local Democrats to accuse him of resting in Wall Street’s pocket.
“Scott Brown watered down Wall Street reform just enough so that the same high rollers who gambled away our economy are right back at it,” said John Walsh, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, who also slammed Brown for failing to list members of a “secretive” New York City finance team.
But Brown’s campaign said yesterday the New York City fundraising committee is in fact one man — entrepreneur Anthony Scaramucci — who hosted a March 12 event to collect money for the Republican senator.
Scaramucci briefly worked at Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, two troubled firms that played a prime role in the 2008 fiscal collapse. The New York financier, who now works at the investment firm SkyBridge Capital, also donated $4,600 to President Obama in 2008 and gave Brown $4,800 in 2010.
A campaign document that lists the event as hosted by a “New York fundraising committee” was meant to drum up interest for other hosts, but didn’t do so, said Brown spokesman Colin Reed.
Warren, a well-known consumer advocate, has demanded that JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon resign from the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Brown’s campaign manager Jim Barnett said the senator believes Dimon will be held accountable by the bank’s public shareholders.
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