Posted on 12/18/2004 7:44:39 PM PST by Ellesu
After three years as an AmSouth Bank customer, Imad Aleithawe got a one-page form letter telling him his account had been closed.
The bank refuses to explain why, citing confidentiality and a broadly written customer agreement allowing accounts to be shut down at any time "for any reason."
Aleithawe, a civil engineer with the state's transportation department, says that without answers he is left with only the lingering suspicion that it has something to do with his Middle Eastern heritage.
At least three other Mississippi residents with Middle Eastern backgrounds - including a university instructor and business owners - have also had their accounts closed. Those affected - all U.S. citizens - say others with Middle Eastern ties have complained to them about closed accounts but were unwilling to go public.
AmSouth officials declined to talk about the Mississippi cases or if similar actions are being taken in other states served by the financial institution - Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Tennessee.
"It is standard practice in the industry not to disclose the reason for closing an account," said Rick Swagler, spokesman for the Birmingham, Ala.-based AmSouth. "Regulators require that banks analyze accounts on the basis of transactions and other activity, and in some cases that will result in accounts closing."
"When AmSouth closes an account, it does so in accordance with the law and for appropriate reasons," he said. "Any suggestion that an account was closed because of a customer's ethnicity is false."
But American Civil Liberties Union officials say the cases are hardly isolated. Nationally, the organization has received more than 1,000 discrimination complaints from people of Middle Eastern descent since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks - and dozens of those complaints have involved financial institutions.
"There is no doubt that this is a huge problem," said Dalia Hashad, an advocate at the ACLU headquarters in New York. "It's become increasingly difficult for average people, who just happen to be Muslim or Arab to live everyday, normal lives. ... You have people who are unable to do simple things like wire money, open a bank account, close a bank account, transfer funds."
Hashad said part of the problem is confusion over the flood of banking regulations that have been put into place as part of the federal Patriot Act.
"Individuals at corporations or corporations or banks themselves are inventing rules that don't exist and barriers that don't exist for Muslim and Arab clients," Hashad said.
In some cases, she said, people have completed the paperwork for a transaction and then told by the bank that their money is being held in limbo "because we're not sure if you're a terrorist or not."
At least two of the individuals in Mississippi said they routinely sent cash in relatively small amounts to family in the Middle East.
But the former AmSouth depositors say they wonder if the bank's recent reporting troubles have led to a broad approach in dealing with potential depositor problems.
In October, AmSouth was ordered to pay $40 million to the federal government in an agreement with prosecutors over its failure to report a money laundering scheme that bilked investors in four states.
The bank was cited by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Federal Reserve Board for not filing accurate, complete and timely Suspicious Activity Reports.
"It's not right to take it out on the Middle East people. It's not our fault. It's their fault," said Suzi Fino, who said several of her AmSouth accounts were closed.
Suzi and her husband, Emad Fino, received notice Sept. 8 that AmSouth would be closing up to seven of their business accounts and one personal account. The accounts were tied to clothing stores the couple own in Jackson, Hattiesburg and in Louisiana.
Mahmoud Nabulsi, an accounting instructor at his alma mater, Jackson State University, said AmSouth closed an account that he established to handle transactions on the auction Web site eBay.
Nabulsi acknowledged he was selling Iraqi currency on the site but said his business had been cleared by the Mississippi Department of Banking and the FBI after he gave them a client list for review.
Each resident said they sought answers from branch managers who signed their account termination letters.
Accompanied by an Associated Press reporter, Aleithawe entered an AmSouth branch in Ridgeland, just north of Jackson, only to be told by branch manager Mark Floyd that he would only speak with Aleithawe alone.
Aleithawe emerged from the closed-door meeting without what he came for - a reason his accounts had been closed.
Suzi Fino and Nabulsi said they had similar conversations with bank branch managers.
Aleithawe said he called the bank's customer service line and was told his account's wire transactions may be to blame for the account closure.
Before the account closing, the 45-year-old father of two had been a regular AmSouth customer, often using his account to wire money to his brother in Jordan.
"I got to that point where I go into the bank and they just look at me and say, 'How much you gonna wire today?'" said Aleithawe, noting he never sent more than $1,500 at a time.
Nabulsi also used his bank account to wire money to his own brother in Jordan.
After his meeting with the branch manager, Nabulsi said he spoke with the FBI and offered to show the bank a list of his clients. He said the bank didn't respond.
"I covered everything. I have informed the FBI of all my business. I am doing legitimate business. There is nothing wrong with it. I told the bank people," Nabulsi said.
Suzi Fino said she contacted Chad Cargile, consumer banking manager for Mississippi and north Louisiana AmSouth banks. She said Cargile first said her accounts were fine but after a few days told her the accounts must be closed.
Suzi Fino said she asked Cargile if the action had anything to do with the fact that both she and her husband are of Middle Eastern descent.
"He said 'It might,'" Suzi Fino said. "Then he said, 'Maybe that was one of the reasons.'"
Calls to Cargile by the AP were deferred to AmSouth spokesman Swagler.
John Byrne, director of American Banking Association's Center for Regulatory Compliance, said banks are not required do business with every person. With federal regulations governing the banks, Byrne said that decisions to close accounts are not made lightly.
While all are U.S. citizens, Aleithawe is from Iraq and the Finos and Nabulsi are from Jordan.
ACLU associate legal director Christopher Dunn said his organization is currently handling cases of mistaken identity, as a result of the recent crop of watch lists that have surfaced. These include the "No Fly List" and the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list, compiled by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The Specially Designated Nationals list includes those who have been designated by the government as persons of interest. Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said the designation could have come for a number of different reasons, from being a drug trafficker or terrorist financier to being a member of the former Saddam Hussein regime.
An AP review of the current Specially Designated Nationals list, updated Dec. 8, showed that none of the former AmSouth clients with Mississippi ties was listed.
With their names not on the list, Nabulsi and the Finos say they both have personal accounts with other banks that are in good standing.
Current bank regulations require banks to file suspicious-activity reports if a person engages in banking transactions that appear to be irregular or different than previous transactions, Dunn said.
"Even if its a relative mundane activity. There are many more potential suspicious-activity reports now, from which someone's account may be closed," Dunn said.
Aleithawe, the Finos and Nabulsi have all said they would pursue legal action if necessary to get answers about their account closures. The Mississippi ACLU is currently reviewing their cases.
This is a non-story. Unless someone has something more solid than "suspicions," they press should have told 'em to take a hike.
The ACLU is involved. They must have something solid.
Spare me. Any outfit that considers the Boy Scouts of America to be more of a threat to our society than the pedophiles at NAMBLA is an outfit that seriously needs to get its collective head examined.
I forgot to add sarcasm.
Oh! Well...that's diff'rent! :o)
The Muslim requirement to support Jihad by any means possible extends to financial support.
..."...often using his account to wire money to his brother in Jordan."...
And what happens to the funds in Jordan? Somebody must have a good guess to close the account. The days of our American Islam-innocence are OVER. We have been killed by Muslims enough--never again.
>>Those affected - all U.S. citizens <<
They deserve an explanation or it could happen to any of us!
"They deserve an explanation or it could happen to any of us!"
I don't worry about it. I don't support overthrow of this government.
Why are you so worried?
I'm sure there's more than one bank in their town. And, as was pointed out by the bank, they can terminate accounts at any time for any reason. All these people have are "suspicions" that it's discrimination.
They are owed nothing except the balance remaining in their accounts.
>The ACLU is involved. They must have something solid.
LOL. Best in show.
I don't like to see adult citizens treated with too much unexplained authority, especially the military type of, "because I said so."
Now to show you what I would consider an excuse, even though they are floppy ones, they're still a reason for shutting down access to the former customer.
"A teller said you were a very difficult customer to deal with, or rude, or she said you have a body odor (lol)and we don't want your business. We want you to take your business across the street.
"Hey Bob, how about you leave?"
You will not silence me, as you seem to be able to do with your public critics. Deal with reality. I represent a lot more people than you ever will.
And why should I leave? I don't detest this government, nor do I go to sermons where I'm told to detest it.
I'm not threatening anyone. I have no power to threaten anyone. I'm just stating a fact. Americans are NOT going to accept this kind of behavior from anyone or any group, be it the KKK or an assocation of thugs that calls itself a religion. It's up to the Muslims to start behaving. If they don't they will, how do say, less than welcome.
Nice try.
FUGGEM!
“Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.”
This was the sentiment of Omar M. Ahmad, the Chairman of the Board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations or CAIR, as told at an Islamic conference held in Freemont, California, in July of 1998.
Sorry, but what you say only applies to people who play by the rules (i.e., supports our constitutional system of government, without resorting to violence to achieve one's ends). If there's a group that doesn't, be it the KKK, Nazi's, Communists, Anarchists, or Muslims, then their rights are voluntarily forfeited.
I play by those rules, I expect others to also.
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