This week Pres. Trump charged new Puerto Rico Oversight Board member Justin Peterson with bringing “transparency and efficiency” to the @FOMBPR. Yet nothing has been transparent about the war Mr. Peterson's firm @DCIGroup waged for years against the government of Puerto Rico. 
The appointment is so controversial that Republican Rep. Jenniffer Gonzalez and Democrat Rep. Nydia Velazquez - two women who not always agree - have publicly opposed it.
Follow this 🧵 if you want to know how @DCIgroup spun its web of deceit.
Yesterday @ElNuevoDia reported that @DCIGroup received more than $1.3 million to lobby against the restructuring of Puerto Rico's $72 billion debt. Sounds like a bargain to me. elnuevodia.com/corresponsalia…
I was around at the time and remember respected Washington experts arguing against bankruptcy for Puerto Rico in the press and at Congressional hearings.
One of those experts was local eminence grise James K. Glassman. He was the only witness at a 2014 House hearing on Latin America to speak about Puerto Rico by way of Argentina! You can check out the full testimony here. docs.house.gov/Committee/Cale…
Another bankruptcy expert was American University economist Arturo Porzecanski. This Uruguayan professor who had no known links to Puerto Rico was advocating in Washington DC for a control board. When asked, he denied being hired by anyone. elnuevodia.com/noticias/polit…
Four years later @zachmider and @ben_elgin @politico caught up with @DCIGroup and exposed the firm's use of credible voices like Glassman's and grassroot support to lobby for their clients and dupe Congress. bloomberg.com/news/features/…
Speaking of grassroot support... quien se acuerda de Carmen Jovet y los bonistas? Jovet, a Puerto Rican journalist, was the spokesperson for Main Street Bondholders Coalition which attacked the Puerto Rican government's efforts to restructure the debt. facebook.com/watch/?v=16423…
And how about this @cnn article @byHeatherLong featuring Puerto Rican victims of the Puerto Rico bankruptcy? money.cnn.com/2016/02/22/inv…
At least 4 of the people in the article were members of the Main Street Bondholders Coalition.
The Main Street Bondholder Coalition was an offshoot of the conservative 60 Plus Association which was recruited in turn by @DCIGroup to lobby on behalf of their bondholder clients. Are you still with me? nytimes.com/2015/12/20/us/…
And who footed the bill for all this? Well... a big chunk of it was paid by the Koch brothers who set up a complex multimillion network - through outfits like the 60 Plus Association and the American Future Fund - to lobby for their interests in Congress. washingtonpost.com/politics/the-p…
I wrote about Justin Peterson and DCI's smear campaign 6 years ago. Before the default, the Board, 2 hurricanes, many many earthquakes and a pandemic. Ha llovido mucho. foxnews.com/opinion/opinio…
And now we come full circle with Mr. Peterson's appointment to Puerto Rico's Oversight Board. A partner at a firm that is so very conflicted with the interests of Puerto Rico. Take a peek here: desmogblog.com/dci-group
So how can someone who covertly made millions of dollars off the collective suffering of Puerto Ricans talk with a straight face about bringing transparency to the Oversight Board? He can't. elnuevodia.com/english/news/s…
Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes. But there are two important things we can do to nullify this appointment: one, vote on November 3rd like your life depends on it because it does and two, remain engaged. We've done it before and we can do it again.
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