Busted! Citibank Sued By City Of L.A. For Predatory Lending To Minorities Citibank is being hit with a huge predatory lending lawsuit where they are accused of knowingly engaging in predatory lending practices that led to the foreclosure of over 1,200 homes in minority neighborhoods. via Courthouse News Service Los Angeles can pursue claims that predatory Citibank loans in minority neighborhoods caused a disparate number of foreclosures in those areas, a federal judge ruled. The city sued Citibank, Citigroup, CitiMortgage, Citicorp Trust Bank and Citi Holdings in December 2013, claiming they were “reverse redlining” certain minority neighborhoods, resulting in blight and diminished property-tax revenue. A “regression analysis” Los Angeles cited showed that from 2004 to 2011, a black borrower was 2.273 times more likely than a white borrower to receive a predatory loan. The city said it could identify 1,200 loans that resulted in foreclosure, and that it expected the number to rise. U.S. District Judge Otis Wright found sufficient evidence Monday of racial motivation behind the predatory loans. “As L.A. points out, the complaint is rife with allegations that defendants targeted minority borrowers for unfair loan terms based on race or national origin,” he wrote. The banks failed to sway him on their characterization of the city’s alleged injuries as nonspecific. Citing the 1979 decision Gladstone Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, which held that civil actions could be brought against racial discrimination housing sales or rentals, Wright wrote: “the Supreme Court made clear that ‘a significant reduction in property values directly injures a municipality by diminishing its tax base, thus threatening its ability to bear the costs of local government and to provide services.’” “The court finds that it need go no further with respect to L.A.’s alleged injuries of decreased property-tax revenue and increased municipal services,” Wright added. Sounds like Citibank better get ready to drop more than a couple stacks to clean this up….
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Lawsuits: City Of L.A. Sues Citibank Over Predatory Lending Practices In Black Communities That Resulted In Over 1200 Foreclosures
