Citibank, the main banking subsidiary of Citigroup, discriminated against Armenian Americans on their credit card applications by singling them out based on their last names, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Employees of the bank allegedly argued internally that Armenian Americans had a higher likelihood to engage in fraudulent activities, referring to them as “bad guys” involved in organized crime.
The federal regulator found that Citi employees were systematically trained to avoid applicants with surnames ending in “-ian” or “-yan,” two common Armenian suffixes. They were also specifically told to avoid applicants from Glendale, California, which has a prominent Armenian population.
Citibank has been fined $24.5 million and has to pay $1.4 million in remedies for affected customers, which are “hundreds” in number, according to the ruling. The charge covers the banks’ activities from 2015 to 2021.
Today, the @CFPB took action against @Citibank, for purposefully discriminating against American credit card applicants of Armenian descent, often due to the spelling of their last name. $C https://t.co/nXIjRPQ4gA
— Rohit Chopra (@chopracfpb) November 8, 2023
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In 2011, members of an extensive Armenian crime syndicate were arrested in Glendale, California for identity theft and credit scams. In recent years, these crime syndicates have been said to exploit COVID-19 welfare funds.
Citi attempted to defend itself by saying these applicants were discriminated against to oppose “well-documented Armenian fraud ring operating in certain parts of California.” But these defenses were rejected since they were applied to the Armenian population in America at large.
“Citi stereotyped Armenians as prone to crime and fraud. In reality, Citi illegally fabricated documents to cover up its discrimination,” said the director of the CFPB Rohit Chopra. “I am concerned about Citi’s longstanding problems when it comes to managing the many parts of its sprawling business,” the director added.
“We sincerely apologize to any applicant who was evaluated unfairly by the small number of employees who circumvented our fraud detection protocols,” Citibank said in a statement. “Following an internal investigation, we have taken appropriate actions with those directly involved in this matter and we promptly put in place measures to prevent any recurrence of such conduct.”
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