December 24, 2024 Darin # Bank to pay Washington State $10 Million for Allowing Stolen Unemployment Fund Transactions
(Seattle, WA) Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Tuesday morning that Metropolitan Commercial Bank will pay $10 million to Washington state as part of his innovative fraud recovery program to return unemployment funds stolen during the COVID pandemic. The initiative has so far brought in more than $52 million from banks across the U.S. that accepted stolen unemployment funds.
According to Ferguson’s office, Metropolitan’s resolution reflects the second phase of the office’s investigation, which will seek out non-bank financial technology, “fintech,” companies that the criminals used to hold and help transfer stolen funds in violation of the Consumer Protection Act.
Ferguson asserts that in 2020, Metropolitan, as the sponsoring bank for the fintech company MovoCash Inc., accepted more than $15 million from criminals who stole from the state unemployment fund. They used stolen identities to get the funds then used Movo accounts to transfer funds through the bank. Ferguson asserts that Metropolitan received the transfers of stolen money without ensuring that proper anti-fraud, anti-money laundering and customer identification screens were in place.