Jury sides with bank in Arab-American discrimination suit

DETROIT (AP) — A federal jury in Detroit says a bank didn’t discriminate against an Arab-American charity when it closed its accounts.

The Detroit Free Press reports  a jury in U.S. District Court returned the decision on Tuesday following less than an hour of deliberations.

Southfield-based Life for Relief and Development sued Bank of America in 2012. Shereef Akeel, a lawyer for the charity, says they’re disappointed with the jury’s decision.

Bank of America said the decision to close the accounts wasn’t based on prejudice. A memo shown at trial said Life for Relief and Development had “unknown sources of cash deposits and unusual activity for a business account.” The charity says nothing was out of the ordinary.

The charity does relief work in the Middle East and elsewhere, including the U.S.

––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://www.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available