Biden’s $20 Billion Shell Game: How Citibank Helped Hide a Massive NGO Slush Fund

President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency, in its final months, executed a financial maneuver of unprecedented scope and speed—one designed to ensure that $20 billion in taxpayer funds would be impossible for the incoming Trump administration to claw back. The mechanism? A deal with Citibank, in which the EPA transferred the massive sum into escrow accounts controlled by eight nonprofit organizations, effectively putting the money beyond reach before President Trump took the oath of office. These funds, drawn from the Inflation Reduction Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, were intended for climate and equity initiatives, yet the recipients bear an unmistakably partisan bent. A closer look at the transaction reveals a deliberate effort to embed Democratic-aligned financial networks deep within the federal apparatus, ensuring that the new administration could do little to reverse the payouts.

Rather than allowing Congress or even career EPA officials to oversee the distribution of these funds over time, Biden’s EPA administrators raced to secure commitments that would leave the new administration powerless. The grants were announced just days before Trump’s inauguration, with Citibank designated as the financial agent responsible for holding and disbursing the funds—an arrangement that shielded the money from Treasury oversight. The timing was crucial: once allocated to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the funds would be legally committed, making it nearly impossible for the Trump administration to redirect or reclaim them.

The recipients of these funds form a well-connected web of progressive financing institutions, many of which have longstanding ties to Democratic officials. The largest beneficiary, Climate United Fund, was awarded nearly $7 billion. This entity is a coalition of left-leaning financial intermediaries, including the Self-Help Ventures Fund, a North Carolina-based lender with deep Democratic ties. Another major recipient, the Coalition for Green Capital, secured $5 billion; this group has been lobbying for a national green bank for over a decade and counts former White House climate advisors among its leadership. The third major grantee, Power Forward Communities, received $2 billion; its partners include left-wing housing organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), which has a history of funding Democratic-aligned community development initiatives.

Beyond these three national funds, the remaining $6 billion was distributed among smaller, but still highly political, nonprofit intermediaries. The Opportunity Finance Network, a nationwide network of community lenders with a record of prioritizing progressive social investments, received $2.29 billion. The Inclusiv Network, another credit-union-focused fund with deep ties to Democratic donor networks, was allocated $1.87 billion. The Justice Climate Fund, a newly formed entity led by progressive financiers, secured $940 million. Two regional-focused groups, Appalachian Community Capital and the Native CDFI Network, received $500 million and $400 million, respectively—both of which operate in regions targeted by Democratic electoral outreach efforts.

What makes these allocations particularly suspect is the leadership of these organizations. The Coalition for Green Capital, for instance, includes board members and advisors who have previously worked within the Biden and Obama administrations. Jahi Wise, a former Biden EPA official, played a pivotal role in designing the very program that awarded his former associates billions in funding. Similarly, the Justice Climate Fund is managed by former Democratic operatives with longstanding connections to progressive advocacy groups.

The structural design of the program itself ensures that these funds will remain under the control of Democratic-aligned organizations for years. The grants were explicitly structured as revolving funds, meaning that rather than being used for one-time projects, the money will be loaned and re-loaned, effectively creating a perpetual financing vehicle for progressive climate initiatives. By placing these funds in escrow at Citibank—rather than keeping them within the Treasury—the Biden administration erected a legal and procedural barrier that makes it nearly impossible for the Trump administration to freeze or redirect the money.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, appointed by Trump in early 2025, has vowed to investigate the deal, calling it an attempt to “circumvent executive oversight and lock in a partisan funding pipeline.” However, legal experts suggest that reversing the allocation may be difficult. Because the funds were awarded through legally binding grant agreements, the new administration would likely need an act of Congress to claw them back. Even if evidence of mismanagement emerges, retrieving taxpayer dollars from these NGOs may prove a daunting legal battle.

The implications of Biden’s last-minute maneuver extend beyond the immediate $20 billion at stake. By setting up financial instruments that ensure a continuous flow of climate investment outside of direct government control, the outgoing administration effectively seeded a parallel policy apparatus, one immune to electoral outcomes. This move is emblematic of a broader trend in Democratic governance: embedding policy mechanisms that function independently of political transitions, ensuring that even when Republicans win elections, the infrastructure of progressive policy remains intact.

Biden’s unprecedented deal with Citibank and the network of Democratic-aligned NGOs is not merely a bureaucratic quirk; it is a calculated effort to cement control over climate financing, sidestep the will of voters, and create a financial fortress that shields progressive initiatives from accountability. In the coming months, the Trump administration will face an uphill battle in dismantling this structure—one that will test the limits of executive power and congressional oversight in undoing an entrenched bureaucratic machine.

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