Truist Bank is facing a $2.5 million defamation lawsuit filed by a Gwinnett County business owner who claims the bank falsely and publicly accused her of bank fraud.
The plaintiff said in a federal court complaint that her image from Truist’s security footage was provided to Gwinnett County police by the bank in August, when the bank reported that a customer had unlawfully obtained almost $20,000 from a Duluth branch in June.
Gwinnett police then issued a press release based on the bank’s report, and the plaintiff’s image was published in connection with the bank fraud by several media outlets, including CBS, Fox and ABC affiliates, case records show.
The plaintiff, whose identity is not being disclosed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said she promptly cleared her name with Gwinnett police and Truist, but that the bank has failed to do anything to remedy the harm it did to her reputation. She said she asked the bank in September to identify all public reports of its false allegation and to seek removal or correction of those reports.