Banking While Black in Minnesota: US Bank Calls Police on Man Trying to Cash Check, Insinuating Fraud

<p><strong>One of the biggest things The Notorious Banker podcast has talked about since 2018, and especially since George Floyd were the stories of discrimination in the the banking industry, particulary, large banks to their customers of color.</strong></p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>A KSTP Reporter, Eric Rasmussen, brought us a story of an incident in Minnesota. Joe Morrow went to the US Bank in Columbia Heights after work to cash his check. Not only did he not get the check immediately cashed, he was told that the check was fraud and that "You people always do this". An argument assumed, and the police were called, and Morrow placed in handcuffs for allegedly trying to pass a bad check, and the manager, John Askwith of US Bank told the cops he was afraid that something would be stolen from his desk by the man.</strong></p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>One problem...Askwith the manager never verified the check was fraud. He made no calls or tried to verify it until the client was in cuffs.&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong>Morrow finally was vindicated, and he sued US Bank, which recently settled with him for an undisclosed amount, without admitting guilt, until Rasmussen and his KSTP reports opened up a can of worms about this discrimination, and US Bank finally accepted responsibility and apologized.</strong></p> <p><strong>I try to discuss what ethical/procedural/compliance things the manager did wrong, and how I saw this incident as I read about it and listened to interviews. As you all know, I have a unique perspective.<br> </strong></p> <p><strong>This is a crazy story that only shows us things are still bad in the banking industry.</strong></p> <p><strong>Links to Eric's Stories</strong></p> <p><a href="https://kstp.com/news/banking-while-black-police-video-shows-how-cashing-a-paycheck-led-to-handcuffs/6324616/">https://kstp.com/news/banking-while-black-police-video-shows-how-cashing-a-paycheck-led-to-handcuffs/6324616/</a> - 1</p> <p><a href="https://kstp.com/news/banking-while-black-more-customers-share-stories-of-