{"id":9946,"date":"2015-03-10T13:01:24","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T20:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=9946"},"modified":"2015-03-10T13:02:09","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T20:02:09","slug":"commercewest-bank-pays-4-9-million-settlement-in-connection-with-consumer-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=9946","title":{"rendered":"CommerceWest Bank Pays $4.9 Million Settlement In Connection with Consumer Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"usdojseal\"<\/a>WASHINGTON<\/strong> \u2013 CommerceWest Bank, of Irvine, California,<\/strong> agreed to a $4.9 million civil and criminal resolution arising from consumer fraud \u00a0committed through the bank, the U.S. Justice Department announced today.<\/p>\n

The civil complaint alleges that CommerceWest Bank knowingly facilitated consumer fraud by permitting the payment processor to make millions of dollars of unauthorized withdrawals from consumer bank accounts on behalf of fraudulent merchants, federal officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommerceWest Bank ignored a parade of red flags indicating that a third-party payment processor was defrauding hundreds of thousands of innocent victims,\u201d said Acting Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer of the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Division.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adding, \u201cAs the civil and criminal actions filed against CommerceWest Bank today demonstrate, we will hold financial institutions accountable when they choose unlawfully to look the other way while fraudsters use the bank\u2019s accounts to steal millions of dollars from American consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the $4.9 million settlement, the bank entered into a deferred prosecution agreement along with reforming bank practices to prevent another similar fraud in the future, officials said.<\/p>\n

According to the civil complaint, \u00a0these are the facts surrounding this case:<\/strong><\/p>\n