WORLD NEWS FLASH
UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On July 11, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered Bank of America to pay more than $100 million to customers for systematically double-dipping on fees imposed on customers with insufficient funds in their account, withholding reward bonuses explicitly promised to credit card customers, and misappropriating sensitive personal information to open accounts without customer knowledge or authorization. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) also found that the bank’s double-dipping on fees was illegal. Bank of America will pay a total of $90 million in penalties to the CFPB and $60 million in penalties to the OCC.
“Bank of America wrongfully withheld credit card rewards, double-dipped on fees, and opened accounts without consent,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “These practices are illegal and undermine customer trust. The CFPB will be putting an end to these practices across the banking system.”
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) is a global, systemically important bank serving 68 million people and small business clients, and has one of the largest coverages in consumer financial services in the country. As of March 31, 2023, the bank had $2.4 trillion in consolidated assets and $1.9 trillion in domestic deposits, which makes it the second- largest bank in the United States.
Bank of America harmed hundreds of thousands of consumers over a period of several years and across multiple product lines and services. Specifically, Bank of America:
This is not the first enforcement action Bank of America has faced for illegal activity in its consumer business. In 2014, the CFPB ordered Bank of America to pay $727 million in redress to its victims for illegal credit card practices. In May 2022, the CFPB ordered Bank of America to pay a $10 million civil penalty over unlawful garnishments and, later in 2022, the CFPB and OCC fined Bank of America $225 million and required it to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in redress to consumers for botched disbursement of state unemployment benefits at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
MASS SHOOTING UPDATE
Information recent as of 7-11-2023 at 12 p.m.
2023 Mass Shooting Stats: (Source: Mass Shooting Tracker – https://www.massshootingtracker.site/data/?year=2023)
Total Mass Shootings: 432
Total Dead: 557
Total Wounded: 1723
Shootings Per Day: 2.25
Days Reached in Year 2023 as of July 11: 192
Latest High Profile Incident (See above)
Location: West 6th Street – Cleveland, OH
Time: Around 2:30 a.m. local time, July 9.
Deceased: None.
Injured: 9, 15 of which were teenagers ages 13-17.
Shooter(s): Number of shooters considered as one as of press time.
Weapon(s): Handgun.
Motive: Tensions throughout the night.
Status: At-large.
Notes: The incident followed another shooting on the same streets hours beforehand, along with another shooting in the neighborhood within a 24 hour window:
“This is yet another tragic incident of senseless gun violence in our city,” said Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb. “We continue to see an uptick in shootings across our city ever since Republican lawmakers passed Senate Bill 215 last year allowing permitless carry. It’s important we recognize this and hold these lawmakers accountable for passing dangerous gun laws in our state. As a result, mayors cannot pass one piece of legislation aimed at gun reform. Unfortunately, we likely will continue to see incidents like this occur unless change is made at the Statehouse.”
EUROPE
OFFICIALS PASS NATIONAL SECURITY LAW
On July 11, the National Security Bill became law after being passed by both Houses of Parliament and securing Royal Assent.
This new act brings together vital new measures to protect the British public, modernize counter-espionage laws and address the evolving threat to our national security.
With this new legislation, the UK is now a harder target for those states who seek to conduct hostile acts against the UK, which include espionage, foreign interference (including in our political system), sabotage, and acts that endanger life, such as assassination.
The new powers will help ensure that the UK remains the hardest operating environment for malign activity undertaken by foreign actors.
Russia remains the most acute threat to the UK’s security, though we have seen interference from China including to communities here in the UK, and Iran has made concerted efforts to kill or kidnap British or UK-based individuals.
Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said, “We are facing growing threats from foreign states. Over the past years we’ve seen attempts to harm our people, damage our economy and undermine our democracy.
“Iran’s recent attempts to kidnap or kill people living in the UK are beyond contempt, and a fundamental violation of our sovereignty.
“The National Security Act provides the tools to expose this type of activity and hold those responsible to account.”
The National Security Act overhauls our outdated espionage laws and will provide our law enforcement and intelligence agencies with new and updated tools to deter, detect and disrupt modern-day state threats. For the first time there is an offence of foreign interference, meaning it will now be illegal to engage in conduct that interferes with fundamental rights, such as voting and freedom of speech, that are essential to the UK’s democracy.
