Diageo PLC (DEO) on Wednesday issued clarification on a Bloomberg story that said Diageo received funds from the Troubled Assets Recovery Program.
Diageo said it has never sought, and will not receive TARP funds.
Diageo noted that the public-private initiative that is bringing Captain Morgan rum to St. Croix is based on cover over, not TARP.
According to the company, Cover over has been the law of the land for more than a half century and the rum cover over extender has been reenacted every year by Congress as part of an independent package of tax extenders. Congress has enacted the cover over extender based upon its finding that the US Virgin Islands has a continuing need for cover over revenues to promote its economic stability and fiscal autonomy.
Purely as a matter of circumstance, Congress attached the extenders package to the TARP bill last fall, Diageo said and added that the cover over is completely unrelated in any way to either the bailout or TARP money.
The suggestion in the Bloomberg article that Diageo somehow benefits from TARP funds is misleading and gives the reader an inaccurate and false impression, Diageo observed.
Last summer, the US Virgin Islands and Diageo announced a public-private initiative under which Diageo will construct and operate a state-of-the-art, environmentally sound, high-capacity rum distillation facility in St. Croix that will age and supply all rum used to produce Captain Morgan products for the US for at least thirty years beginning in 2012.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.