The 57 charges involve $175 million allegedly stolen from the small-business loan program. Defendants are accused of lying on their applications and using funds to buy cars, jewelry and other luxury items.
The bank said the conduct includes “instances of customers misusing Paycheck Protection Program Loans, unemployment benefits and other government programs.”
Close collaboration between leading payment innovators and regulators could help regulators better understand the direction the industry is headed, says Arkose Labs' Vanita Pandey.
Chargeback requests have surged since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as airlines have canceled flights, performers have postponed concerts and supply chain disruptions have delayed the delivery of many goods.
Ashton Ryan, the New Orleans bank's CEO, and two other officers are accused of disguising the financial condition of certain borrowers before the bank's 2017 collapse.
The bank is expected to report a small net profit for the second quarter next week; shareholders are challenging the government's 2012 decision to appropriate nearly all of the agencies' profits.
Axcess Financial is using stronger authentication, studying up on bad actors and planning to use a federal service that automates verification of Social Security numbers.
The bank says fraud attempts involving commercial wire transfers have escalated since the outbreak began. It's training employees and customers how to head off the often hard-to-detect scams.
