Legal issues and news

In our ongoing battle against financial fraud, we need a holistic overhaul of the regulatory landscape to safeguard the financial industry and its stakeholders effectively.

Gov. Jim Justice alleges that Carter Bancorp engineered a technical default on a multi-million lending relationship and has blocked his company's efforts to refinance with other lenders. The lawsuit extends a dispute that started after the death of the bank's founder in 2017.

The bank was recently sued by customers who say they were misled into thinking that their savings accounts were earning competitive rates. Capital One responded with a series of arguments for why the case should be thrown out.

One large bank accused the former lender of commingling mortgagor payments in its general operating accounts instead of delivering those funds to a lockbox.

In its biannual report on supervision and regulation, the Federal Reserve Board noted an uptick in governance issues with large banks. Regional and community banks, meanwhile, were plagued by IT problems and risk management struggles.

The Cincinnati-based bank, which purchased a solar lender last year, is facing an investigation from 17 state attorneys general over the acquired company's lending practices and contractor network. One solar panel installer has gone bankrupt and faced complaints across the country.

Fincen's final rule issued Tuesday allows reporting companies to use Fincen identifiers as shorthand for a full list of preapproved beneficial ownership data, which the agency says will streamline the reporting process.

Bank regulators' advance pledge to set capital levels at or above those required by the agreement is evidence that the results of the notice and comment period have been predetermined.

A sweeping class-action suit in Miami federal court by investors who claim they lost billions in the collapse of FTX and seek to pin blame not just on Bankman-Fried and his inner circle, but also on celebrities who were paid to endorse it to the masses, as well as bankers, accountants and lawyers who propped up the empire's legitimacy.

His lawyers characterize him as a math nerd and not a criminal, but the mountain of evidence presented during his trial makes it hard to see him as innocent.

Longtime customers of Capital One's online banking arm thought they were getting the best possible rate, according to a lawsuit. Little did they realize, they say, that they needed to open a new account in order to benefit from interest rate increases.

The Federal Trade Commission penalized the finance app Brigit after alleging it misled customers about being able to access "up to" $250 in cash advances in exchange for a monthly fee and made it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions.

The Treasury Department is expanding a whistleblower program, which currently deals only with anti-money-laundering violations, to include tips from employees of financial institutions that result in sanctions-related penalties.

Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of a massive fraud that led to the collapse of his FTX exchange, following a monthlong trial.

The lawsuit by state Attorney General Keith Ellison is the latest challenge to high-cost loans by tribal lenders. The lenders argue that tribal sovereignty gives them immunity from such lawsuits.

Citing the need to conserve capital, Blue Ridge Bankshares indefinitely extended a dividend suspension that it announced in July. The bank remains well-capitalized, but it saw its ratios shrink in the third quarter.

U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said Oscar Marcelo Nunez-Flores, a New Jersey bank staffer of a bank unnamed in case documents, was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly took bribes to launder millions in drug money to Colombia.

Charlie, a neobank marketed to people 62+, and Carefull, which partners with financial institutions, recently raised their Series A's. A third, called EverSafe, is embarking on its first fundraise.

The whistleblower who brought the case, Minnesota-based municipal advisor Johan Rosenberg, will receive $14.4 million under the deal.

JP Morgan Chase and Carver Federal Savings are applying fast-acting security tools more broadly — regardless of how fast the transaction is.