ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Whistleblower Records Shed Light On BNY Mellon Case
[Article submitted by Justin Victor of Grant & Eisenhofer]
Whistleblower Grant Wilson has aided a lawsuit against and federal investigation into the Bank of New York Mellon Corp for fraudulent practices. According to Wilson, the bank provided and then charged fictitious foreign-currency costs for pension funds. Following his accusations and information, Virginia, Florida, and New York, and the Department of Justice have sued BNY Mellon for improperly charging state and local pension funds for foreign exchange. According to the New York Attorney General, BNY Mellon made a $2 billion profit from this activity over the past decade.
A bank spokesperson claims that the information is false and taken out of context, yet the scale and multiplicity of the lawsuits and investigations suggest otherwise. Several attorneys working on the case – including Harry Markopolos who is known for warning about Bernard Madoff’s fraudulent operations – cite the centrality of Wilson’s aid and status as a whistleblower; Wilson, a BNY employee, continued to work with the bank while providing information to the legal investigators. With almost 50,000 employees, $1.2 in assets under management and $25.5 trillion under custody and administration, BNY is the largest deposit bank in the world. Even so, it was the work of one individual that brought light to the events and information to spur the ongoing investigations and lawsuits.
The alleged practices of the Bank of New York constitute financial abuse. The Evans Law Firm handles banking fraud and other financial abuse cases in California.
