Fired Citigroup banker says COO intended to deceive regulator on bank's metrics

Date:

Share post:


NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former Citigroup (C) managing director who said she was fired because she refused to mislead a federal regulator about the bank’s risk management accused Citigroup’s chief operating officer of intentional deception, according to an amended lawsuit filed late on Thursday.

Kathleen Martin said Chief Operating Officer Anand Selva “wanted to misreport Citi’s metrics to deceive” the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency into believing the bank was complying with its $400 million settlement agreement in 2020 addressing risk management shortfalls.

Martin’s amended complaint in Manhattan federal court repeated the claim that Selva was concerned that reporting accurate information would “make us look bad.”

Martin said a successful misreporting would have also deceived shareholders and the public, while failure would have had “enormous legal and financial implications” for the third-largest U.S. bank, perhaps including “major” new fines.

The amended complaint also added specific illustrations of compliance shortfalls at Citigroup.

These included the $135.6 million fine that the OCC and Federal Reserve imposed on July 10 over the bank’s “insufficient progress” in addressing problems identified in 2020.

That fine was the latest blow for Chief Executive Jane Fraser, who has focused on making Citigroup leaner and made cleaning up its regulatory failings a top priority.

Citigroup had no immediate comment after market hours.

It has said it fired Martin last September because she lacked leadership and engagement skills for her job as interim data transformation chair.

The bank has also said her allegations were untrue, and that if they were true her whistleblowing was not protected activity under the federal Sarbanes-Oxley governance law.

Citigroup has until Aug. 8 to respond to the amended complaint. The bank had sought on June 27 to dismiss Martin’s original complaint, but federal law allowed her to amend it once.

The case is Martin v. Citibank NA et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-03949.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Sandra Maler)



Source link

Alexandra Williams
Alexandra Williams
Alexandra Williams is a writer and editor. Angeles. She writes about politics, art, and culture for LinkDaddy News.

Recent posts

Related articles

Satire publication The Onion buys Alex Jones' Infowars at auction with help from Sandy Hook families

The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones' Infowars at a bankruptcy auction,...

Video appears to show a Ukrainian Leopard tank taking out a column of Russian armored vehicles

Ukraine released a video showing an attack on a Russian armored convoy.The brigade said a Leopard 2...

Iowa's list of the 35 lowest-performing schools now includes 12 from Des Moines

A dozen schools in Iowa's largest public school district have been identified by the state as "in...

At 8:21 a.m.: SpaceX set for Falcon 9 rocket launch from Florida’s Space Coast

SpaceX crews are preparing to launch a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday morning from Florida’s Space Coast.SpaceX is...

Sinkhole Swallows Motorcycles in Madrid After Water Pipe Breaks

A sinkhole caused by a burst water pipe forced a partial road closure in Madrid, Spain, on...

First-Ever Amber Discovered in Antarctica Shows Rainforest Existed Near South Pole

Imagine a time machine that could whisk you back to the age of the dinosaurs. Suddenly, you...

China's president will unveil a megaport in Peru, but locals say they're being left out

CHANCAY, Peru (AP) — On the edge of Peru’s coastal desert, a remote fishing town where a...

This 'morphing' wheel could allow wheelchairs to climb stairs

STORY: :: KIMMThis is not your average wheelchair.Researchers in South Korea have developed what they claim is...