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The Mapping Project

Citigroup

Citigroup is a bank and financial services firm which has a long history of profiting from US colonialism and empire, and from Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland.

Support for US Colonialism and Empire

As Peter James Hudson has argued, “A deep dive into the vaults and ledgers of banking houses such as Citigroup, Inc., and J. P. Morgan Chase and Co. reveals a story of capitalism and empire whose narrative is not of morally pure and inspiring economic growth, technological innovation, market expansion, and shareholder accumulation, but rather of blood and labor, stolen sovereignty and pilfered resources, military occupation and monetary control.” Citigroup, as Hudson describes, was founded in 1812 and became “the largest and most important imperial financier in the United States.”

Citi Bank (as it was known earlier) was deeply entangled with the US’s imperial projects in Cuba and Haiti. As Hudson writes, City Bank’s Vice President John H. Allen “was deeply involved with the decision to send U.S. Marines to Haiti in 1915 in what would become a nineteen-year military occupation,” because City Bank was interested in Haitian investments. The US occupation of Haiti, Hudson continues, “provided the platform for City Bank’s takeover of the Banque Nationale [de la République d’Haiti] while making City Bank’s imposition of a $30 million loan to the Haitian government almost risk free.” In other words, City Bank benefited from the US’s imperial expeditions – and it also used to the Caribbean as a testing ground for new financial tools.

Citigroup today continues to benefit from US empire and its servants. In 2019, for example, Citigroup served as the financial advisor to the weapons contractor Raytheon during Raytheon's merger with United Technologies, a merger that according to Reuters created a company “worth about $121 billion.”

Support for Israel

Citigroup provides extensive support to individuals and corporate entities which constitute the economic engine behind the Zionist entity. According to its website

Citi boasts the largest presence of any foreign financial institution in Israel, and offers corporate and investment banking services to leading Israeli corporations and institutions and global corporations operating in Israel. Citi also offers private banking services to high-net-worth individuals living in Israel. Citi has demonstrated its leadership and commitment to Israel for many years, initially offering investment banking services (formerly Salomon Smith Barney). In 1996 Citi established a representative office and in July 2000 became the first foreign bank in Israel to obtain a full banking license and to offer a full range of client services. Citi continues to expand its activities in the local market, introducing world-class products and customized solutions to meet its client's needs.

Furthermore, Citigroup runs an "innovation lab" in Tel Aviv. The head of the Lab Lyron Wahrmann has stated: "As the leading international financial institution in Israel (“the startup nation”), it was something of a no-brainer for us to open an Innovation Lab in Tel Aviv. As a company always on the lookout for new robust technologies to help us stay ahead of the curve, The Lab ... focuses its efforts on making Citi what we like to think of as a “technology company with a banking license." As evidenced by Wahrmann's statement, Citigroup's lab contributes to and aims to profit from the Israeli state effort to "brand Israel" as a "startup nation" and a hub of "innovation," in order to whitewash over the realities of Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland and Israel's theft of Palestinian resources.

Links to Boston

According to its website, Citigroup has over 100 employees in Boston, along with over 1,800 Citi alumni and over 796,000 “consumer and business accounts” in the city. Additionally, 11 of Citigroup’s “Fortune 500” clients are headquartered in the Boston area.

2 International Pl #1900, Boston, MA 02110

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