OCC Announces Enforcement Actions for March 2024

WASHINGTON—The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today released enforcement actions taken against national banks and federal savings associations (banks), and individuals currently and formerly affiliated with banks the OCC supervises.

The OCC uses enforcement actions against banks to require the board of directors and management to take timely actions to correct the deficient practices or violations identified. Actions taken against banks are:

• Cease and Desist Order and Civil Money Penalty against JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A, Columbus, Ohio, for deficiencies in its trade surveillance program. The assessed civil money penalty is $250 million. Refer to OCC News Release 2024-25. (Docket No. AA-EC-2023-49 and AA-EC-2023-50).

The OCC uses enforcement actions against an institution-affiliated party (IAP) to deter, encourage correction of, or prevent violations, unsafe or unsound practices, or breaches of fiduciary duty. Enforcement actions against IAPs reinforce the accountability of individuals for their conduct regarding the affairs of a bank. The term “institution-affiliated party,” or IAP, is defined in 12 USC 1813(u) and includes bank directors, officers, employees, and controlling shareholders. Orders of Prohibition prohibit an individual from any participation in the affairs of a bank or other institution as defined in 12 USC 1818(e)(7). Actions taken against IAPs are:

• Order of Prohibition against Samantha Cherry, Former Manager at a St. Louis, Missouri branch of UMB Bank, N.A., Kansas City, Missouri, for embezzling $439,000 in cash from the bank. (Docket No. AA-WE-2023-60)
• Personal Cease and Desist Order and Civil Money Penalty against Nicholas Jurun, Former Mortgage Loan Originator and Sales Manager at a Rancho Palos Verdes office of Barrington Bank & Trust Company, N.A., Barrington, Illinois, for making payments to receive referrals for mortgage loans, attempting to hide at least two of these payments from the bank with false documentation, and engaging in a conflict of interest. The assessed civil money penalty is $30,000. (Docket No. AA-ENF-2023-61)
• Order of Prohibition and Civil Money Penalty against Thomas Lopp, Former President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer, Sterling Bank and Trust, FSB Southfield, Michigan, for failing to appropriately oversee the bank’s operation of its Advantage Loan Program, supervise bank employees, and intervene when an individual who was not a bank officer issued directives to bank employees and otherwise participated in bank operations. The assessed civil money penalty is $150,000. (Docket No. AA-ENF-2023-73)
• Order of Prohibition against Elijah V. McBride-Bey, Former Personal Banker, at a North Waltham, Massachusetts, branch of Santander Bank, N.A., Wilmington, Delaware, for establishing unauthorized online banking access and using that access to make unauthorized withdrawals totaling approximately $11,140 from an elderly customer’s account. (Docket No. AA-ENF-2023-48)
• Order of Prohibition and Civil Money Penalty against Michael Montemayor, Former President of Retail and Commercial Banking, Sterling Bank and Trust, FSB, Southfield, Michigan, for failing to appropriately oversee the bank’s operation of its Advantage Loan Program, and appropriately supervise bank employees, or escalate concerns to the board’s attention. The assessed civil money penalty is $120,000. (Docket No. AA-ENF-2023-72)
• Order of Prohibition against Juan F. Velez Restrepo, Former Personal Banker at a New York branch of Citibank, N.A., Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for abusing his access to an elderly bank customer’s account and misappropriating over $166,000 in customer funds. (Docket No. AA-ENF-2023-77)

The OCC terminates enforcement actions when a bank has demonstrated compliance with all articles of an enforcement action; or when the OCC determines that articles deemed “not in compliance” have become outdated or irrelevant to the bank’s current circumstances; or when the OCC incorporates the articles deemed “not in compliance” into a new action. Termination actions include:

• Order Terminating the Formal Agreement with Beacon Business Bank, N.A., San Francisco, California, dated December 31, 2018 (Docket No. AA-WE-2018-67), for unsafe or unsound practices, including those relating to enterprise governance, concentrations of credit, and credit risk management. (Docket No. AA-WE-2023-76)
• Order Terminating the Formal Agreement with Elevate Bank, National Association, Sedan, Kansas, formerly known as The First National Bank of Sedan, Sedan, Kansas, dated April 17, 2018 (Enforcement Action No. 2018-033), for unsafe or unsound banking practices relating to its Board and management oversight, credit administration, credit risk management, and loan growth. (Docket No. AA-WE-2024-17)
• Order Terminating the Cease and Desist Order against U.S. Bank, Cincinnati, Ohio (through its merger with MUFG Union Bank, National Association, San Francisco, California), dated September 20, 2021 (Docket No. AA-ENF-2021-34), for deficiencies related to technology and operational risk management. (Docket No. AA-ENF-2024-29)

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All OCC public enforcement actions taken since August 1989 are available for download by viewing the searchable enforcement actions database at https://apps.occ.gov/EASearch.

Related Link

• Enforcement Action Types