Links in “Fines, Penalties, Suits, and Settlements”

OCC seeks to remove the president of American Bank (Rockville, Maryland) for artificially inflating prices to avoid recognizing losses. [12/14/15]

The former head teller for Essential Federal Credit Union in Louisiana is going to prison for stealing $508,000 from her cash drawer, most of which was deposited in an account at another credit union. The theft was ongoing over the course of four years before it was detected.

The Department of Justice announced that two more Swiss Banks (Cornèr Banca SA and Bank Coop AG) have reached resolutions under the department’s Swiss Bank Program and will pay combined penalties of $8.3 million. [12/11/15]

Federal authorities announced a series of arrests and indictments involving racketeering for a series of money laundering schemes that revolved around the former head of Saigon National Bank, based in Westminster, California. [12/11/15]

The NCUA reached a settlement with Morgan Stanley for $225 million to resolve claims arising from losses related to corporate credit unions’ purchases of faulty residential mortgage-backed securities. The action continues a series of settlements with various financial/securities firms with additional pursued actions still pending. [12/11/15]

The now liquidated Helping Other People Exceed Federal Credit Union (insert joke here), which was one of New Jersey’s smallest credit unions, has now been tied to a massive criminal enterprise that led to a large bank data breach.  A senior executive at the credit union was allegedly paid $175,000 in bribes to allow money to be laundered through a bitcoin operation. The $290,000 asset credit union was conducting $30 million a month in ACH transactions. [12/10/15]

Representatives for Home Depot are denying that Home Depot authorized the settlement letters that were sent to the financial institutions that are suing the retailer for losses resulting from its 2013 data breach. Home Depot claims it has reached a tentative settlement with Mastercard, but that the settlement is contingent on its acceptance by a certain number of financial institutions. [12/10/15]

Counsel representing financial institutions in the data breach case against Home Depot are urging credit unions and other financial institutions to either reject or decline to opt-in to the settlement being offered by Home Depot and Mastercard. Counsel is concerned that the settlement terms are vague and don't appear to adequately reimburse credit unions for their losses. [12/8/15]

Two mortgage lenders find out the hard way that originating home loans that don't meet HUD guidelines can be a bad idea. A Tennessee lender has agreed to pay $70 million and a much smaller lender in Utah has agreed to pay $1 million. [12/8/15]

A bank teller in Georgia cashed fraudulent tax refund checks for several individuals in return for a fee, even going so far as to documenting on the check that identification had been checked, even though no identification had been offered. She has agreed to pay restitution of more than $780,000 and faces up to five years in prison. [12/7/15]