The Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2018: PNC faces probe over low-income tax credits
Federal prosecutors are looking into how PNC Financial Services Group Inc. purchased tax credits meant to fund housing for low-income people, the company said Friday.
The Pittsburgh-based bank has received subpoenas related to the way it handles purchases of low-income housing tax credits.
“I can confirm that we have received an inquiry on this matter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami and we are fully cooperating with them on it,” according to an email statement from a spokeswoman for the bank.
Earlier this month, Wells Fargo & Co. disclosed in a securities filing that federal agencies have “undertaken formal or informal inquiries or investigations” about how the bank purchased and negotiated to purchase “certain federal low income housing tax credits in connection with the financing of low income housing developments.”
Investors and companies purchase the tax credits to lower their federal income-tax bills. Developers who sell them use the proceeds to help finance the construction or rehabilitation of affordable housing.
