Rangel 'did not know what HSBC was'

The embattled chairman of the House’s tax-writing committee told ethics investigators he was unaware of HSBC, one of the largest banking and financial services organizations in the world.

Ethics investigators were questioning Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) about corporations that paid for a conference in the Caribbean that Rangel attended. HSBC is one of the corporations that funded the conference.

Investigators also found that staffers for Rangel prepared a memo when HSBC was considering not sponsoring the conference. The memo offered suggestions on how Rangel could help prevent HSBC from bowing out.

HSBC later donated $25,000 for the trip to St. Maarten, $10,000 more than it provided to the same Caribbean conference the year before.

But when Rangel questioned by the ethics panel’s investigative subcommittee about the matter, Rangel said he “did not know what HSBC was,” according to a report issued by the ethics committee’s investigative subcommittee that reviewed the matter.

HSBC, based in London, operates in 86 countries across the globe. It was established in 1865 to finance the growing trade between China and Europe, and was named after its founding member, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited.

The ethics panel in a report issued Friday said Rangel had broke House rules because his staff knew that the Caribbean trip was sponsored by corporations. But the committee said Rangel himself did not know the trip was backed by corporate sponsors.