Report: Gavin Newsom Fails to Mention His Ties to Silicon Valley Bank

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) welcomed the federal government’s intervention Sunday to protect depositors at the failed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) — but failed to mention that he has been its client.

As the left-wing Intercept notes:

The White House “acted swiftly and decisively to protect the American economy and strengthen public confidence in our banking system,” Newsom said in a statement. What Newsom didn’t mention is that it also protected his own companies if they held over $250,000 in deposits.

CADE, Odette, and PlumpJack, three wineries owned by Newsom, are listed as clients of SVB on the bank’s website. Newsom also maintained personal accounts at SVB for years, according to a longtime former employee of Newsom’s who handled his finances, and who requested anonymity to avoid professional reprisal.

…

Newsom also didn’t mention his wife Jennifer Siebel’s professional ties to the bank. In 2021, Silicon Valley Bank gave $100,000 to the charity founded by Siebel, the California Partners Project, at the request of Newsom. John China, president of SVB Capital and responsible for SVB’s funds management, is himself a founding member of the California Partners Project’s board of directors.

Silicon Valley Bank was chartered in California, but its problems somehow eluded aggressive state regulators.

As Breitbart News reported Monday, the collapse of the bank is the latest failure on Newsom’s watch — in addition to electricity shortages, wildfires, and a blizzard (during which he left the state). The conservative California Globe also noted that an SVB executive served on the board of Newsom’s wife’s organization.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.