[PDM Info] Capital One

Wed Mar 6 18:47:15 MST 2024

Capital One chooses to lease space at 711 Boylston Street From Sam Hassan.  Hassan was sued by the AG of Massachusetts for racist behaviors in 2018.  See the announcements from the AG below.  While Hassans case was ongoing Capital One chose to engage with and negotiate a lease.  Why was this location so important to Capital One? See the links below.  Articles and a quote from the AG. Hassan is described in one of the articles as a Trump supporter.  There was an article titled The Bully of Boylston Street.  It describes the racism and other behaviors that are awful.  

Did Capital One do its own investigation to come to its own understanding of the guilt or innocence of Hassan?  The AG was certain of the racist behavior.  She said so on many occasions.  Did Capital One ever speak with the AGs office about doing business with Hassan?  If Capital One did their own investigation, what did they find?  Obviously they must have found the allegations not to be true?  Otherwise why would they choose to lease from this man? 

Notice the dates on the announcement of Capital One receiving approvals from Boston to occupy the building and the notice by the AG of the settlement.  It would appear Capital One instructed Hassan to settle.  Someone at Capital One appears to have known what Hassan was being sued for and wanted to hide that fact as much as possible.   

What about the victims?  Who reached out to them?  What did they receive?  Hassan receives millions in rent, Capital One got a great location for their business.  The brokers made fees.  
Did Capital One ever reach out to the victims?  Is this justice?    

Why would Capital One choose to do business and enrich a man who discriminated against a Black ex marine and a Middle Eastern woman?  If their customers knew about this choice would they choose to use a different company?  Society lost in this transaction.  A man who treated others awfully based on their race and sex was made wealthy by a big bank choosing a location over the best choice for society.  Capital One has a code of conduct that says do the right thing.  Did they?  And now they want to buy Discover and get bigger and more powerful?  

Does the public have a right to know about this?  Capital One is about to buy Discover.  Should the public know what they choose to do when they think no one is watching?  Financially support a man the AG sued for racism?  Why was this location so important?  They couldn't find another location?  Is that the behavior we want from the big banks?  Does that help society?  Our big banks that keep getting bigger should behave better than this?  Why should Capital One financially support the man that the AG said this about?
“We have strong laws in Massachusetts to put an end to the kind of unlawful, unacceptable, and racist behavior that this business owner blatantly displayed in his store,” AG Healey said. “This settlement provides relief to the customers that were harmed and makes clear that everyone should be welcome and respected in businesses across our state.”

https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2019/01/16/the-tannery-sam-hassan/

https://thebostonsun.com/2021/08/25/zoning-board-approves-three-projects-in-the-back-bay/

https://www.mass.gov/news/owner-of-the-tannery-banned-from-retail-business-in-massachusetts-required-to-compensate-victims-he-discriminated-against-under-settlement-with-ags-office

https://www.mass.gov/news/ags-office-sues-the-owner-of-the-tannery-for-discriminating-against-customers-based-on-race-and-national-origin

https://www.facebook.com/UrbanMeritage85/posts/1015 <https://www.facebook.com/UrbanMeritage85/posts/10157128316710864/>

-- 
 Sent with Tuta; enjoy secure & ad-free emails: 
 https://tuta.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://progressivedemsofmass.org/pipermail/info_progressivedemsofmass.org/attachments/20240307/446bfa7e/attachment-0001.html>