Courtesy of Pam Martens.
Wall Street Is Under Investigation for Ownership and Storage of Commodities Like Oil, Gas, Aluminum and Copper
On February 5, 1997, the U.S. investment bank, Morgan Stanley, known for its stock underwriting and merger and acquisition business, made its first foray into creating a product distribution pipeline to mom and pop investors — it bought Dean Witter, Discover & Company and its army of stockbrokers. Last year, Morgan Stanley completed the purchase of Smith Barney’s retail brokerage business, giving it a selling force of over 16,000 stockbrokers – now called advisors.
But a 16,000-strong sales force is not the only product distribution pipeline owned by Morgan Stanley. The company has a controlling stake in TransMontaigne, a sprawling oil and gas behemoth which owns real pipelines that carry real oil. According to the company’s web site, the ownership structure is as follows:
“TransMontaigne Partners has no officers or employees and all of our management and operational activities are provided by officers and employees of TransMontaigne Services Inc. TransMontaigne Services Inc. is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of TransMontaigne Inc. TransMontaigne Inc. is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. We are controlled by our general partner, TransMontaigne GP L.L.C., which is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of TransMontaigne Inc.”
According to TransMontaigne Partners’ web site, the business owns at least 44 fuel terminals; 21 million barrels of storage capacity; the 67-mile Razorback pipeline between Missouri and Arkansas; the Diamondback pipeline from its Brownsville, Texas facility to its terminal in Matamoros, Mexico; a dock facility located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana connected to the Colonial pipeline; along with other oil and gas-related assets.
But Morgan Stanley’s footprint is not just in investment banking, retail stock brokerage, investment advisory services, physical commodities, derivatives trading on those same commodities – it’s also a bank (Morgan Stanley Bank, National Association) holding deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which gives it access to the Fed’s discount window.
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