Bank of America Accused of Conducting ‘Breathtaking’ Surveillance on Customers, Illegally Disclosing Confidential Financial Records and Personal Info

A new lawsuit accuses Bank of America of mining data from its customers and unlawfully sharing the results with law enforcement agencies.

According to a lawsuit filed by Florida resident Neil Castellon, Bank of America runs one of the “most sophisticated data surveillance systems in the American financial sector and possesses technological capabilities that would be the envy of any 21st-century intelligence agency.”

The lawsuit alleges that between January 5th and January 7th of 2021, when a mob stormed the United States Capitol, Bank of America used its extensive library of data to identify those who were in Washington, D.C, at the time.

BofA then unlawfully shared the information with law enforcement agencies and personnel, the lawsuit says.

“…BoA’s disclosures extended far beyond any permissible reporting requirements and constituted unauthorized and unlawful dissemination of protected customer information to federal, state and local government law enforcement agencies.”

Castellon says Bank of America’s actions constituted a violation of the Right to Financial Privacy Act (RFPA), a law that protects customer records from unwarranted access by the federal government by requiring specific procedures to be followed before disclosures can be made.

“BoA engaged in voluntary data-mining beyond [suspicious activity report] SAR-triggering scenarios resulting in proactive, unreasonable searching and surveillance, rather than transaction-based anomaly detection.

In doing so, BoA violated the RFPA, unlawfully converted customer property and infringed on Plaintiff’s and the Class members’ constitutional rights.”

Bank of America denies the allegations and says it routinely follows regulatory requirements and requests from law enforcement.

The lawsuit, which was filed on January 5th, is seeking a trial by jury.

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