Tillman claims bank lied about slavery past - - Chicago Sun-Times (IL) - May 1, 2004 - page 6 May 1, 2004 | Chicago Sun-Times (IL) | Fran Spielman | Page 6 With an assist from her daughter, the City Council's champion for slave reparations produced what she called irrefutable evidence to support her claim that J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase & Co. had past ties to slavery slavery and "lied" about it on an affidavit. "They said they had nothing to do with slavery slavery . ... The affidavit says if you lie, then your [city] contract is null and void," said Ald. Dorothy Tillman Tillman (3rd). The J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase testimony was part of a hearing stemming from a 2002 ordinance requiring city contractors to come clean about their ties to slavery slavery Tillman Tillman said documents uncovered by a research team led by her daughter, Ebony, directly contradict the blanket denial given to Chicago aldermen on March 5 by Frederick Hill, executive vice president for J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase. If Tillman Tillman is right, J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase could be barred from doing business with the city and accepting deposits of Chicago tax dollars. The banking giant is also one of nine teams vying for the right to operate the Chicago Skyway. "Mr. Hill said they've looked all over the world and they couldn't find anything. He was lying flat on his face," she said. Hill was out of the country Friday. Thomas Johnson, a spokesman for J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase, said the company is in the process of conducting additional research at Tillman Tillman 's request. But, Johnson denied that J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase lied on the disclosure statement filed in connection with its role in a pair of city bond issues. "A fair reading of that ordinance required us to conduct a thorough search of our records and the records of our predecessor banks. We did that and found no connection to slavery slavery ," he said. Ebony Tillman Tillman is the 34-year-old researcher for her mother's office who claims to have uncovered a treasure trove of evidence during two weeks spent in the stacks of the Library of Congress. The documents from Riggs, Peabody and Co., a predecessor of J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase, include a December 1833 receipt for a pair of shoes for a slave named Sally. For William W. Corcoran, a client of George Peabody, there was a receipt for an August 1832 ad placed in the Columbia Gazette for the private sale of slaves. And there was a Peabody and Riggs receipt listing slaves transported on a ship called the Aurora. The bottom line, Ebony Tillman Tillman said, is that "George Peabody, the predecessor for J.P. Morgan Morgan , had a very strong connection with slavery slavery with his relationship with the Peabody, Riggs Company and also in his various business relationships." All of the documents uncovered by Ebony Tillman Tillman were on display at Friday's joint meeting of the Finance and Human Relations committees -- a legislative version of show-and-tell that appeared to convince Dorothy Tillman Tillman 's colleagues. Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) noted that, in its own Web site, J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase acknowledges that, in 1838, the roots of the House of Morgan Morgan could be traced to businessman George Peabody. "It's now up to J.P. Morgan Morgan to either acknowledge this Web site reference, disavow it or file an amended disclosure," the chairman said. "I don't know that I would go so far as to say the disclosure was based on a lie. At the most, we might say that it was, at least on the face of it, incomplete." Burke said he does not believe it will be necessary for the City Council to issue a subpoena for J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase. "No company that wants to do business with the City of Chicago is going to run the risk of not cooperating. I don't think it's realistic," he said. Copyright 2004 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc. Bank adds to slavery disclosure - Tillman on - Chicago Sun-Times (IL) - May 4, 2004 - page 12 May 4, 2004 | Chicago Sun-Times (IL) | Fran Spielman | Page 12 Under pressure from the City Council's champion for slave reparations, J.P. Morgan Chase amended its economic disclosure statement Monday to say that companies "relevant to the story of the Morgan family" may have "profited from business relationships with persons or companies that owned or used slaves." But J.P. Morgan Chase categorically denied a charge from Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd) that the company lied on an affidavit filed in response to a 2002 ordinance that demanded city contractors search their records and come clean about past ties to slavery. If Tillman is right, J.P. Morgan Chase could be barred from doing business with the city and accepting deposits of Chicago tax dollars. The banking giant is one of nine teams vying for the right to operate the Chicago Skyway. Frederick Hill, executive vice president of J.P. Morgan Chase, insisted that George Peabody & Co. and J.S. Morgan & Co. were "not predecessor entities" of J.P. Morgan Chase. He said the predecessor of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. was a New York partnership formed for the first time in 1871 under the name Drexel Morgan & Co. It was this company that became J.P. Morgan & Co. in 1895. Why, then, is the company amending its economic disclosure statement? "We want to be a good neighbor. . . . We want to continue to do business with the city. We have a lot of employees here. ... When we were challenged on this, it is in the spirit of good faith and in the spirit of cooperation with a community that's very important to us that we have offered the amendment," Hill said. "However, when you look at the ordinance and what the ordinance requires, we believe ... that we have, at all times, complied with that ordinance." Tillman disagreed. Her reading of what the economic disclosure statement requires is vastly different. "It says that you have searched any and all of your records -- your predecessors and everybody," Tillman said. "You signed an affidavit. You didn't sign a resolution stating that you had done these things. ... You perjured yourself. ... What you're trying to propose is very insulting. You're not being for real." Hill countered: "It's never our intent to insult you or any other member of City Council. We respect you. That's why we've tried to comply with every question that you've asked in this regard." Ald. Ed Smith (28th) compared the appearance by Hill to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the 9/11 commission. "She was sent to be ate up by the wolves. That's what happened. You're being sent here to answer for some questions that took place in the company years ago, when you weren't even born. You should have said to those people, 'You go take that heat,' " Smith said. Armed with research unearthed in the Library of Congress by her 34-year-old daughter, Ebony, Tillman last week produced what she called irrefutable evidence to support her claim that J.P. Morgan Chase had past ties to slavery and lied about it on an affidavit. The documents from Riggs, Peabody and Co., a predecessor of J.P. Morgan Chase, include a December 1833 receipt for a pair of shoes for a slave named Sally. For William W. Corcoran, a client of George Peabody, there was a receipt for an August 1832 ad placed in the Columbia Gazette for the private sale of slaves. And there was a Peabody and Riggs receipt listing slaves transported on a ship called the Aurora. The amendment filed Monday makes an important legal distinction that forms the cornerstone of the company's defense. "This information did not come from the corporate records of the undersigned, including those of its predecessor entities," it states. Copyright 2004 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc. Bank One 'probably' dealt with slave businesses - - Chicago Sun-Times (IL) - June 25, 2004 - page 23 June 25, 2004 | Chicago Sun-Times (IL) | Fran Spielman | Page 23 For the second time in a month, Bank One has filed an amended slavery slavery disclosure affidavit with City Hall -- this time revealing fresh new details of its search for skeletons in the closets of its Louisiana predecessors. Determined to avoid a repeat of the slave disclosure controversy that has embroiled its merger partner, J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase, Bank One states in the new affidavit that Citizens Bank, formed in 1833, and Canal and Banking Co., formed in 1831, "did business in Louisiana during this era and probably did business with persons or entities that employed slaves." The affidavit also names a series of Louisiana banks that Bank One believes may have been its predecessors. Ald. Dorothy Tillman Tillman (3rd), champion of the City Council's slave reparations movement, said she has no doubt that Bank One's researcher will uncover specific ties to slavery slavery because a research team led by the alderman's daughter already has. Records on file in St. Landry Parish, La., show at least five instances in 1837 alone where land and slaves were used to either secure mortgages or purchase stock from Canal and Banking Co. and Citizens Bank, the alderman said. Ninety-one slaves were used as collateral in the five transactions. "Louisiana was the international port for slavery slavery . They brought slaves from the Caribbean. They exported cotton, rice, textiles and dry goods from New Orleans. It's impossible not to find slavery slavery down there," Tillman Tillman said Thursday. "It's truly a victory for our people -- the fact that this major company is coming clean. They didn't try to dodge the question. It's not a joke. It's the law. If you don't come clean, you can't do business. J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase has not been able to bid on a lot of stuff because they have not come clean." Bank One's merger with J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase is scheduled to take effect July 1. The bank reportedly began its extensive search through federal banking records before Bill Daley, the mayor's brother, joined J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase as Midwest chairman. But, Tillman Tillman believes the decision to lift the curtain in stages may have been influenced by Daley's arrival. Tillman Tillman has accused J.P. Morgan Morgan Chase of profiting from the slave trade and lying about it on a sworn affidavit. "Bill Daley understands the lay of the land," she said. Bank One spokesman Tom Kelly said the banking giant chose to amend its slavery slavery affidavit for the second time in a month because of additional research provided by History Associates. "We're now able to flesh out the names of banks that may be predecessors to our bank in Louisiana. We wanted to lay out as much as we could of that lineage," Kelly said. Asked whether the banking giant was prepared to acknowledge past ties to slavery slavery , he said, "We're not there yet. ... We know the banks. We know that those banks did business in states that had slavery slavery during the slave era. Now, let's look and see what we can find out about them. We want to be disciplined in the way we approach it and make sure we have it exactly right." In Bank One's new disclosure, it names possible predecessor entities, including: Canal Commercial Trust & Savings Bank, Canal Bank & Trust, National Bank of Commerce, First National Bank of Commerce and Bank One Louisiana, which merged into Bank One North America in November 1998. Bank One now "believes that Canal and Banking Co. and Citizens Bank may be predecessors of First National Bank of Commerce," even though it has located no supporting documents to establish that fact. History Associates is now in the process of checking federal records of Depression-era banks to verify the relationship, the affidavit states. Copyright 2004 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.