Some recipients of the $20 billion in EPA climate grants held at Citibank said they were unable to tap their funding Wednesday.
EPA transferred the grant money to Citibank last year, under a financial agent agreement with the Treasury Department. The Trump administration has been trying to claw the money back — prompting a top federal prosecutor to resign Tuesday rather than follow a Justice Department order to freeze the Citibank account. In her resignation letter, Denise Cheung said FBI’s Washington office did send Citibank a letter “recommending a thirty-day administrative freeze on certain assets.”
On Wednesday, three grant recipients told POLITICO’s E&E News that they were unable to draw down funds from their accounts to spend on their programs. Speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals, the recipients said they were unsure whether EPA had frozen the funds or whether there was some other reason. They said they had not received notice from EPA or Citibank.
One other awardee said that while their group still had access to its funds, subawardees had had their access restricted.
