April 23, 2026

Warren Deepens Probe of Seemingly Corrupt Approval of Bank Charter for Trump's Billionaire Friends in Silicon Valley

Requests information on fundraising memo she obtained suggesting Erebor Bank could secure a national charter due to Palmer Luckey’s “political network” and a co-founder’s “unique” connections to Donald Trump’s Comptroller of the Currency, Jonathan Gould

Letter to Erebor Bank (PDF) | Letter to OCC (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Comptroller of the Currency, Jonathan Gould, and Palmer Luckey, Founder of Erebor Bank, requesting information regarding what appears to be an Erebor Bank fundraising memo that the bank refused to provide in response to a February 2026 inquiry. The Senator voiced concerns that the memo suggests Erebor Bank could secure a national bank charter due to Luckey’s “political network” and a co-founder’s “unique” connections to the Comptroller—raising serious questions about potential corruption in the bank chartering process.

“The document raises serious concerns: It suggests that Erebor either was confident that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) would provide it a charter as a political favor or that it may have misled investors in violation of federal securities laws. Therefore, I once again request information to help me better understand the role of Erebor’s political connections in securing a national bank charter,” wrote the Senator.

“The fundraising memo asserts that Erebor would ‘receive bank charter in less than 6 months from submission,’” wrote the Senator. “On October 15, 2025, Erebor’s charter was granted by the OCC only four months after submission. The FDIC approved Erebor’s federal deposit insurance application two months later. The bank opened its doors on February 8, 2026. The memo also suggests that Erebor plans to leverage its political connections to secure policy changes that preference its planned business model.”

The Senator concluded by highlighting Erebor's risky business plans: “According to the memo, the bank plans to lend against crypto assets, private securities, and GPUs for data center buildouts and AI related projects… Over the ‘longer term,’ Erebor plans to ‘deploy its own assets into DeFi,’ an activity not referenced in the public section of its charter application. These significant and novel risks make the approval of its charter even more surprising, and political manipulation as an explanation more compelling.”

The Senator requests answers on Erebor Bank’s banking memo by May 6, 2026.

 

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