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NAACP, former employee sue Capital One for redlining

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NAACP, former employee sue Capital One for redlining

Capital One Bank (USA) NA is facing claims of redlining by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the League of United Latin American Citizens and former employee Laurie Vignaud.

As senior vice president/senior director for Capital One's South Central market, a position she held for more than 10 years, Vignaud was tasked with monitoring Black and Latino communities' reactions to branch closures in low- to middle-income communities. She "had personal knowledge" of the bank's monitoring of those communities' civil rights groups, which it reportedly did "to minimize [their] knowledge of Capital One's deliberate discrimination and cancellation of banking services in minority communities," according to the court filing.

Among the groups said to have been monitored are plaintiffs NAACP and LULAC, Black Lives Matter leaders and the Urban League.

Another of Vignaud's primary duties was the promotion of Capital One's compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act. Vignaud alleges she "repeatedly called" management's attention to potential violations of the law and CRA reporting requirements as they "scheduled and implemented [bank closures] in a manner to try to avoid detection by the bank regulators."

The lawsuit claims that Vignaud, an African-American woman, was eventually terminated after she expressed opposition to the bank's practices. Opportunities and her assignments were instead given to "less qualified" white employees who sometimes had "little to no experience." She was also reportedly told that her marketing strategies were ineffective, despite Capital One Financial Corp. later using them as a model nationwide. Vignaud is suing over racial discrimination and is seeking more than $1.0 million in damages.

The plaintiffs allege a "flagrant disparity between the amount of traditional and customary banking services extended by Capital One to White customers versus the purposeful curtailment, closing, and limited traditional banking facilities in predominately Black and Latino communities." The lawsuit argues that Capital One markets their ATM card to minority groups, while apparently discouraging the typical lending or credit services that would be available in a branch. It further argues that the bank violated the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Community Reinvestment Act and the Civil Rights Act.

A spokesperson for Capital One called the claims "baseless" and said the bank has been "thoughtful about its branch strategy in order to provide the right physical presence in all of [its] markets." It intends to "vigorously defend" itself in the case.

The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, was filed Feb. 27 at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston division. The plaintiffs are calling for a jury trial.