Citibank has been ordered to pay nearly $3.5 million to a New York stroke victim after missing obvious signs of fraud in her accounts, then allegedly hiding evidence in the court case that uncovered the theft.
The possibly precedent-setting December 19 decision from Queens Supreme Court Justice Bernice Siegal sanctioned the bank $10,000 for “concealing critical evidence for over 14 months in violation of court orders” in the case of 80-year-old Leileth Faye Graham, who ironically was once a legal secretary for a firm that represented the banking behemoth, according to The Post.
The bank allegedly delayed the ongoing 2023 proceeding — apparently defying the request to refund Graham the over $772,000 stolen from her accounts. This led Siegal to slap Citibank with treble damages under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act.
RELATED STORIES
Citibank has denied wrongdoing and appealed the order, but Graham’s family is praying she eventually gets what is owed to her.
“My hope is that something will come through, so that she gets to enjoy something out of it before she passes away,” Graham’s niece, Ingrid Gayle, who oversees her care said.
“Because that would really be sad, that we fight for her to get back her money, and that she doesn’t even get to enjoy a thousand of it.”
READ ALSO: Trump scraps $2.9 million chip transaction, flags China-linked security threat
“My hope is that something will come through, so that she gets to enjoy something out of it before she passes away,” said Graham’s niece, Ingrid Gayle, who now oversees her care.
“Because that would really be sad, that we fight for her to get back her money, and that she doesn’t even get to enjoy a thousand of it.”
Court papers indicate that the bank was ordered to pay the whopping sum “for failure to investigate or to return the funds removed from [her] account without consent or authority”.
The 1978 law safeguards consumers in electronic transactions, yet Citibank allegedly sat on its hands while another niece, Joan Hope Bowden, allegedly made 211 withdrawals in Massachusetts, where she lived — a state where the legally blind, bed-bound Graham didn’t travel, court papers indicate.
According to court papers, nearly $135,000 was taken from those withdrawals, and 15 wire transfers bled another $638,000.
“Ok Citibank you all didn’t see this?” wondered Gayle. “This is not normal. You’re calling her, you’re not getting her, why continue the transaction?”
The accused thief used Graham’s cash to enjoy vacations in Jamaica, buy a Washington DC property for her daughter and son-in-law, and doled out money to her own sister and grandkids, a court-appointed evaluator determined.
“Had Citibank properly followed its own security procedures on the Citibank accounts following the ATM withdrawals, the account would have been flagged, thereby preventing the subsequent wire transfers,” the court found.
In the 1970s, Graham emigrated to the US from her native Jamaica, secured a business administration degree from Manhattan College in 1984 and in 1992, a bachelor’s degree from Pace University.
Her niece revealed that she went on to work at Time Warner, Time Magazine, and eventually as a legal secretary for the white shoe law firm Shearman & Sterling, which represented Citibank for many years.
Gayle added that Graham loved to cook, and “spent conservatively,” but never married or had kids, buying her Rego Park condo in the 1980s.
It was in February 2020 that her health began to fail after a stroke, Gayle stated.
The court found that during the theft, the bank not only ignored “clear red flags”, but allegedly failed to produce witnesses, recordings and other evidence in the case that could have led to an early settlement.
This case has now become a game changer for all financial institutions in New York, “because it establishes clearly that the bank is liable for unauthorized transactions,” said attorney Raymond Dowd, who represents Graham’s legal guardian. “The bank bears the burden of proof not the consumer. This is huge.”
The money now owed Graham is triple the $772,000 stolen, plus $242,828 in interest and $150,000 in damages.
Gayle said if the money was available at the time, Leileth Faye Graham would have renovated her aunt’s apartment and gotten lifts to help her get out of bed, reconfigured the bathroom and gotten a specialized vehicle to take her places. However, no money is there for that now.
“That’s what really bothers me,” she said.
