03/26/2024

FDIC releases January enforcement actions

All Members

FRPA is seeing an increase in insider fraud!!

The FDIC has released a list of 15 orders of administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals in January 2024. The administrative enforcement actions in those 15 orders consisted of six orders to pay civil money penalties, two combined prohibition orders and orders to pay civil money penalties, two prohibition orders, four consent orders, and one order terminating a consent order.

• Nine orders against individuals who are current or former institution-affiliated parties of Bank of England, England, Arkansas, connected to violations of section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act involving misrepresentations of personal and bank affiliations with the Department of Veterans Affairs in the course of taking applications for VA mortgage loans.
  • Assessments of civil money penalties and orders of removal/prohibition were issued to:
    • Ryan Qarana, former branch manager of the Bloomfield, MI, loan production office of the bank, for failing to ensure that loan officers in the Bloomfield, Michigan loan production office complied with Section 5; specifically by misrepresenting or failing to ensure that loan officers did not misrepresent: (1) available loan prices for mortgage loans, (2) that consumers could skip two months of their mortgage payments, and (3) the loan production office’s affiliation with the Department of Veterans Affairs. CMP $100,000.
    • Jasmine Jonna, former sales manager of the Bloomfield loan production office, for misrepresenting available loan prices for mortgage loans, misrepresenting to consumers that they could skip two months of their mortgage payments, and misrepresenting the loan production office’s affiliation with the Department of Veterans Affairs. CMP of $12,000.
  • Civil money penalties were assessed on:
    • Ramy Zoma, for misrepresenting the bank as affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs. CMP $2,500.
    • Janel Zaitona, for luring consumers to apply for mortgage loans with low, unavailable loan prices that would not be honored and subsequently increasing the price before closing the loan, and misrepresenting to consumers that they could skip two months of mortgage payments and by misrepresenting to consumers the Bank’s affiliation with the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. CMP $1,000
    • Salam Yaldo, for luring consumers to apply for mortgage loans with low, unavailable loan prices, that would not be honored and subsequently increasing the price before closing the loan; misrepresenting to consumers that they could skip two months of mortgage payments; and misrepresenting to consumers his and the Bank’s affiliation with the Department of Veterans Affairs. CMP $15,000
    • Zach Jabro, for failing, as the branch manager of the office, in certain aspects, to manage, monitor, and oversee the sales operations of the branch. CMP $110,000
    • Maria Abdulnoor, for luring consumers to apply for mortgage loans with low, unavailable loan prices that would not be honored and subsequently increasing the price before closing the loan, and misrepresenting to consumers that they could skip two months of mortgage payments. CMP $35,000.
  • Cease and desist orders were issued to Lamont Kennedy and Oday Sessi.
• An order to pay a civil money penalty of $2,000 was issued to Collins State Bank, Collins, Wisconsin, for violations of the Flood Disaster Protection Act, National Flood Insurance Act, and Part 339 of the FDIC's Rules and Regulations, by failing to obtain adequate flood insurance at the time of making, increasing, renewing, or extending four (4) loans.
• Removal/prohibition orders were issued to:
  • Laura Ellen Ellison, formerly a loan operations specialist for CommerceOne Bank, Birmingham, Alabama, for executing nine unauthorized wire transfers from accounts of two bank customers to her personal bank account at another bank, and creating false documentation to make the transfers appear to have been authorized.
  • Bonnie A. Kirkpatrick, formerly employed by First Farmers & Merchants State Bank, Brownsdale, Minnesota, after a finding that she forged withdrawal slips, took various amounts of money from multiple consumer accounts without permission or authority, and removed Bank funds from the cash drawer, all for her own personal gain.
• Consent orders were issued to First Farmers & Commercial Bank, Pikeville, Tennessee, and Lineage Bank, Franklin, Tennessee
• A consent order issued in September 2022 to Union Savings Bank, Cincinnati, Ohio, was terminated.

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