Oregon Man Pleads Guilty in Swatting and Bomb Threats Scheme That Targeted Jewish Hospitals in New York City and Long Island

 

In federal court in Brooklyn, Domagoj Patkovic has pleaded guilty to conspiring to make threats concerning explosives and conveying false information concerning explosives.  The proceeding was held before U.S. District Judge Ramon E. Reyes.  When sentenced, Patkovic faces up to 15 years in prison.  Patkovic was charged in August 2024. 

“As he admitted today, the defendant intentionally targeted Jewish hospitals and care centers in our District with bomb threats.  In doing so, he needlessly endangered patients and staff and diverted critical law enforcement resources from their core mission of keeping our community safe,” stated U.S. Attorney Durham. “We will prosecute dangerous bomb threats and swatting schemes to the fullest extent of the law.” Swatting is a criminal harassment act of deceiving an emergency service into sending a police or emergency service response team to another person's address.

According to prosecutors, Patkovic was part of a crew of troublemakers who began making anonymous threatening calls to Jewish hospitals and facilities on Long Island among other targets throughout the country in May 2021 - and livestreamed the hoaxes on social media and electronic devices. As set forth in the indictment and in court filings, the defendant himself made threats in at least six separate calls to hospitals (when he told hospital staffer he wanted to kill all Jews, using an antisemitic slur, according to prosecutors) and on a call with local law enforcement who had responded to a 911 notification from one of the hospitals. On several occasions, local police responded to the scene and conducted bomb sweeps. On at least one occasion in September 2021, the hoax bomb threat resulted in a partial evacuation and lockdown of an entire hospital on Long Island. No explosive devices were ultimately found in any of the locations.

Durham expressed his appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, the New York City Police Department, Nassau County Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon for their assistance on the case.

Read the February 19, 2025 DOJ article.

102-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor is Vogue Germany’s Cover Star

A 102-year-old Holocaust survivor whose family was murdered at Auschwitz is the cover star for the July/August edition of Vogue Germany. Margot Friedländer, née Bendheim, was born in Berlin in 1921. According to a brief bio on the website of Berlin’s Jewish Museum, Friedländer spent the early part of the war with her mother and younger brother Ralph after her parents separated. They had plans to flee the country but in 1943 her brother was arrested by the Gestapo. Their mother confronted the Gestapo, which led to her being deported to Auschwitz with her son, where they were both murdered. But before leaving, she left behind a message for her daughter that read: “Try to make your life.” Friedländer, then just 21 years old, went into hiding but was ultimately betrayed by “catchers” and was sent to Theresienstadt camp in the then-Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia in 1944, according to the museum.

Kerstin Weng, head of editorial content at the magazine, said that the theme of the issue was love, featuring their “favorite pieces, favorite people.” The front of the collector’s issue includes the word “love” written by Friedländer, as well as her signature. The multi-page piece, which includes numerous shots of Friedländer, covers a range of topics, from growing up in Nazi Germany to her commitment as a Holocaust survivor today. The collector's issue of Vogue Germany is available on newsstands from June 22.

Friedländer met her future husband, Adolf, while in the Nazi concentration camp, and married him soon after liberation. The pair emigrated to the US in 1946 and lived in New York for more than six decades. But in 2010, following her husband’s death aged 88, Friedländer moved back to Berlin. Ever since, she has been campaigning as a Holocaust educator. Her tireless efforts have earnt her numerous awards, including the Federal Cross of Merit First Class.

Friedländer told Vogue Germany that she was “appalled” by the growth of right-wing populism and the rise of antisemitic attacks. When addressing the issue of society becoming more polarized, she said: “Look not toward what separates us. Look towards what bring us together. Be People. Be sensible.” Grateful for the opportunity to pass on her message, she said: “You will carry my story onward. That this never comes to happen again.”

Read the June 20, 2024 CNN.com article.

Civil and Human Rights Organizations Sue Trump Administration Over Executive Orders Banning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Erasing Transgender People

The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and Lambda Legal have filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the National Urban League, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago challenging three anti-equity executive orders from President Trump related to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and transgender people. LDF and Lambda Legal claim these orders will severely limit the organizations’ ability to provide critical social and health services such as HIV treatment, fair housing, equal employment opportunities, affordable credit, civil rights protections, and many others. This would harm countless people across the US, including people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and people living with HIV. The lawsuit claims that the administration is violating the organizations’ rights to free speech and due process and is engaging in intentional discrimination by issuing and enforcing the anti-equity orders.

The three executive orders being challenged would end equity-related grants and forbid federally-funded entities from engaging in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs, and from recognizing the existence of transgender people. These orders reverse decades of civil rights progress and pose an existential threat to the organizations that advocate for the civil rights of transgender people, and provide them shelter, services, and support.

“Fair housing is a national policy of the U.S. Our nation’s fair housing principles are embedded in the Constitution and civil rights statutes secured by the blood, sweat, tears, and lives of millions of people who fought to make our Declaration of Independence and Constitution real for everyone in this country. The Constitution and our civil rights laws are centered on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. The President cannot undo the Constitution or take away our rights by affixing a signature to an executive order,” said Lisa Rice, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance. “The administration’s Executive Orders and OMB funding freeze memorandum have caused chaos, fear, insecurity, dysfunction, and loss of rights. The Administration’s illegal actions put all people in harm’s way, driving up the cost of housing and leaving millions exposed to discrimination, harassment, and retaliation with no structure for protection. ‘Out of Many, One’ is our national motto -– any effort to divide, stoke fear and treat people unfairly is not in line with our nation’s founding principles. America is best when united and relentlessly pursuing a country where everyone, regardless of their background, has a fair chance at reaching the American Dream.”

“Beyond spreading inaccurate, dehumanizing, and divisive rhetoric, President Trump’s executive orders seek to tie the hands of organizations, like our clients, providing critical services to people who need them most,” said Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel of LDF. “The three orders we are challenging today perpetuate false and longstanding stereotypes that Black people and other underrepresented groups lack skills, talent, and merit - willfully ignoring the discriminatory barriers that prevent a true meritocracy from flourishing. We proudly stand with our clients and Lambda Legal against these unconstitutional orders and hope the court will act quickly so the arduous work of advancing and sustaining our multiracial democracy can continue without unlawful interference from the Trump administration.”

“These policies drip with contempt for transgender people, and pose a significant threat to critical health and HIV services that support marginalized communities, putting lives at risk,” said Jose Abrigo, Lambda Legal’s HIV Project Director. “These orders pose an existential threat to transgender people and the organizations that provide them with shelter and support. The orders defund organizations providing critical health and HIV services, and punish organizations for striving to improve the lives of Black people, people of color, and members of other marginalized communities. They are patently unconstitutional. Lambda Legal and LDF teamed up because the fights to end racism, the HIV epidemic, and anti-transgender bias are inseparable. For organizations like our plaintiffs providing these services, addressing these compounding barriers is essential to HIV prevention and care, and this policy would impede the work to eradicate and address the HIV epidemic.”

The lawsuit, National Urban League v. Trump, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claims that the executive orders violate the plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to free speech by censoring and chilling their views on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. The plaintiffs also claim that the executive orders are so vague that the organizations do not know what is and is not prohibited, in violation of their Fifth Amendment due process rights. Also, the executive orders discriminate against people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ people, with particular animus towards Black people and transgender individuals, in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection.

You can read the full complaint here.

Read the February 19, 2025 NFHA article.

Justice Department (DOJ) Issues Report Highlighting Critical Enforcement Work Over the Past Four Years; But Trump Administration DOJ Then Cancels New Civil Rights Work

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has issued its 2021-2024 Civil Rights Division Highlights Report, outlining various accomplishments of the division and its partners in enforcing the nation’s civil rights laws and the Constitution from 2021-2024.

The report reflects upon a portion of the critical civil rights work across the division’s 11 sections where the career staff and leadership worked to bring to justice those who harmed, threatened and/or intimidated people because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, English proficiency, or disability status.   

This work has included challenging discriminatory voting laws and abortion restrictions, to investigating police departments and prison conditions, to fighting modern day redlining, and working to combat hate and protect people with disabilities and LGBTQ people.

“Our Civil Rights Division has doggedly pursued justice for our nation’s most vulnerable through enforcement of our civil rights laws by combating hate and exploitation, promoting fairness and accountability in our criminal justice system, strengthening democracy, and expanding and ensuring opportunity and access for all. This report provides snapshots of some of that work,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Over the past four years, I have had the privilege and honor of leading the Civil Rights Division and overseeing this crucial work. I am incredibly grateful for the tireless efforts of our career employees who have steadfastly abided by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland’s charge to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights and keep our country and communities safe. And I am indebted to our communities and advocates who bravely asserted their rights and shared their stories in our common pursuit of justice and fairness.”

More information about the Civil Rights Division can be found at www.justice.gov/crt. To report a possible civil rights violation, please visit www.civilrights.justice.gov/.  

Unfortunately, on January 22, 2025, the Trump Administration Justice Department "has ordered an immediate halt to all new civil rights cases or investigations - and signaled that it might back out of Biden-era agreements with police departments that engaged in discrimination or violence, according to two internal memos sent to staff on Wednesday. The actions, while expected, represent an abrupt about-face for a department that had for the past four years aggressively investigated high-profile instances of violence and systemic discrimination in local law enforcement and government agencies."

Read the January 16, 2025 DOJ press release.

Read the January 17, 2025 Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights article.

Read the January 22, 2025 New York Times article.

Book Review: JOHN LEWIS: A Life, by David Greenberg

 

Simon & Schuster, 2024. $35.00 hardcover. 704 pages.

David Greenberg’s “authoritative…definitive biography” (David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize–winning author) follows Lewis’ life through documents from numerous archives, interviews with 275 people who knew him, and rare footage of Lewis speaking from his hospital bed after Selma. The author relates his history beyond the civil rights era, highlighting his leadership in the Voter Education Project, where he helped enroll millions of African American voters across the South. The book also covers Lewis' ascent in politics, first locally in Atlanta and then as a respected member of Congress. As part of the Democratic leadership, Lewis was admired on both sides of the aisle for his unwavering dedication to nonviolent integration and justice. Recommended.

Anne Arundel County Hate Bias Reporting Forum is March 29th at Anne Arundel Community College

 

Saturday, March 29 · 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. EDT

Anne Arundel Community College, 101 College Parkway Arnold, Maryland 21012

This forum is being presented by the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, and the Anne Arundel County Office of Equity and Human Rights. The Hate Bias Reporting Forum will provide community members and law enforcement with information related to the 2023 Hate Bias Report. 

   

The forum will engage local law enforcement, elected officials, and community leaders in discussions and information sharing on methods to facilitate more effective reporting as well as responding to bias incidents and hate crimes.

Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/anne-arundel-county-hate-bias-forum-tickets-1248414414119?aff=oddtdtcreator. 

There is a large parking lot in front of the Cade building, so parking should be easy to find: https://www.aacc.edu/media/college/images/maps/Campus-Map_WEB_09052024.jpg.

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Obituary: Henry Marsh, Civil Rights Lawyer and First Black Mayor of Richmond, 91

 

Marsh became prominent as a young lawyer during the civil rights movement and helped mount the legal challenge to “Massive Resistance,” the concerted effort to subvert the integration of public school as mandated by the 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.

“My heart is heavy with grief and full of gratitude that I had the chance to know Henry Marsh—a truly exceptional person,” U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) said in a statement Friday. “Any single one of Henry’s accomplishments would be enough cause to be proud, but he never stopped looking for new opportunities to serve. I’m honored to have called him a friend and mentor.”

While he was growing up in Virginia, the “daily affronts to my dignity" (such as being denied a seat at a lunch counter or forced to sit in the back of a bus because of the color of his skin),” he wrote in a memoir, “also motivated me to do something constructive.” Marsh entered politics and won a seat on the Richmond City Council in 1966. 

His Council service coincided with a shift in the politics of the state capital, once the seat of power in the slaveholding South and, a century after the end of the Civil War, remained dominated by a conservative White business class. At the time, Richmond’s mayor was selected by a city council of nine members elected at large. Following the city’s controversial annexation of White suburbs and a court challenge under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Richmond began a ward system that in 1977 produced the first Black majority on the city council. Marsh then was selected as mayor.

As mayor during 1977-1982, Marsh worked to improve the city’s housing; helped spearhead a partnership with the White business community to revitalize the city’s downtown; pushed to bring African Americans into key municipal positions and into civil service; and helped transform the city from a bastion of White power to one that really represented more equitably the population.

In 1991 he was elected to the state senate, serving until 2014. He was among those who pushed the legislature to reckon with Virginia’s role in slavery and segregation. In 2007, the General Assembly passed a resolution stating “profound regret” for Virginia’s slaveholding past.

As a member of a leading Black law firm in Richmond, with partners including the civil rights lawyers Oliver W. Hill, Sr. and Samuel Tucker, Marsh helped argue cases related to voting rights, school desegregation, and discrimination in employment. “We were constantly fighting against race prejudice,” he recalled. “For instance, in the case of Franklin v. Giles County, a local official fired all of the black public school teachers. We sued and got the (that) decision overruled.” The firm also worked on a variety of other fronts, ranging from housing and voting rights to employment issues.

Marsh's memoir The Memoirs of Hon. Henry L. Marsh, III: Civil Rights Champion, Public Servant, Lawyer was published in 2018 by GrantHouse Publishers (232 pages). It was edited by Jonathan K. Stubbs and Danielle Wingfield-Smith.

Read the January 28, 2025 Washington Post obituary.

Read the January 25, 2025 VPM article.

Read the March 22, 2018 Richmond Free Press article.

Charles Person, Youngest of the Original Freedom Riders, 82

Charles Person was the youngest of the 13 original Freedom Riders who traveled from Washington to Birmingham, Alabama, in 1961 in an effort to integrate interstate bus terminals across the South - and who were nearly beaten to death for doing so. He was an 18-year-old freshman at Morehouse College, although he had been accepted at MIT, when he first became involved in the civil rights movement, joining the thousands of students across the South who were marching against Jim Crow laws and sitting in at segregated lunch counters.

His first arrest, during a sit-in at an Atlanta restaurant, was in 1961. When he returned to campus, he saw an ad from the Congress of Racial Equality looking for volunteers for a trip by commercial bus from Washington to New Orleans. Along the way, the ad said, they would test the December 5, 1960 US Supreme Court decision (Boynton v. Virginia, 364 U.S. 454) banning segregation in bus terminals serving interstate travelers. 

After training in nonviolent techniques, he and the others - including the future congressman John Lewis - left from Washington’s Greyhound station aboard two buses. Person was paired with an older white rider, James Peck. Their job was to enter the terminals so Person could try to use the white restroom while Peck entered the Black restroom. Then they would order food at the designated white and Black lunch counters. Their first test, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, just drew ugly stares from white people in the depot. In Charlotte, N.C., Person was almost arrested when he tried to have his shoes shined in a white part of the terminal.

The next stop was Anniston, a small town in eastern Alabama. The station was closed, but the driver stopped anyway. Another bus had been firebombed outside town, he said and if they wanted to proceed, the Black Riders would have to move to the back. When they refused, the driver left the bus. The white men who had boarded in Atlanta, members of the Ku Klux Klan, then viciously attacked the Riders; knocking Person and Peck unconscious before being dragged to the rear. “They threw us to the back of the bus,” Person said in a 2021 interview on the podcast “Book Dreams.” “One eyewitness said they stacked us like pancakes.”

In Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday, May 14, a crowd of white people, including scores of Klansmen, awaited the Riders. After the bus driver refused to carry them further, the Riders left the bus. In the station when Peck said the two of them were friends, several men pulled him into a hallway and began beating him with a pipe. Somebody grabbed Person, too, but after awhile he was able to escape. By then the Klansmen were beating up the Riders with abandon. Person managed to catch a city bus, and finally reached the home of the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a leader in the city’s civil rights community. More Freedom Riders, including Peck, eventually made it to the home. Though most doctors did not want to treat them for fear of retribution, they eventually found medical care.

Around 400 people joined the bus campaign in total, many facing beatings and prison. But it worked: In November, 1961, President John F. Kennedy’s administration ordered the desegregation of all interstate bus terminals. "It really was the template for citizen politics in the 1960s,” said Ray Arsenault, the author of Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice (Oxford University Press, 2011. 320 pages. Paperback $18.99). “A lot of what came after - the antiwar protests, the women’s movement - all drew on these ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”

After settling in Atlanta in the 1980s, Person became locally involved in civil rights activism. In 2022, he wrote Buses Are a Comin’: Memoirs of a Freedom Rider with Richard Rooker (304 pages. St. Martin's Press, 2021. Paperback $19.00).

Read the US Supreme Court summary of Boynton v. Virginia.

CFPB Takes Action Against Draper & Kramer Mortgage for Discriminatory Mortgage Lending Practices

 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has alleged that Draper & Kramer Mortgage Corporation (Draper) committed discriminatory mortgage lending activities by discouraging homebuyers from applying to Draper for homes in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the greater Chicago and Boston areas. The CFPB alleges that Draper located all its offices in majority-white neighborhoods, concentrated its marketing in majority-white neighborhoods, and avoided marketing to majority-Black and Hispanic areas. This resulted in disproportionately low numbers of mortgage loan applications and mortgage loan originations from majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Chicago and Boston compared to other lenders. If entered by the court, the proposed order would ban Draper from engaging in residential mortgage lending activities for five years, and require the lender to pay a $1.5 million civil money penalty into the CFPB's victims relief fund.

The CFPB alleges that, from 2019-2021, Draper redlined majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the greater Chicago and Boston areas, resulting in it significantly underperforming its peers in lending activity to these areas. Draper discouraged mortgage applicants from making or pursuing an application for credit on the basis of race, color, and national origin, violating the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B.

Specifically, the CFPB alleges that Draper violated the law by:

(1) Intentionally focusing mortgage lending activities in majority-white neighborhoods and excluding Black and Hispanic neighborhoods: Draper had no offices, no loan officers, and virtually no marketing or outreach in majority- or high-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Chicago and Boston. Draper did not assign any loan officers to solicit applications in majority-Black and Hispanic communities and failed to train or incentivize its loan officers to lend in these communities. Draper's outreach and marketing targeted majority-white neighborhoods and largely avoided majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods; and 

(2) Discouraging mortgage applicants from pursuing properties in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods: Draper's business model discouraged borrowers from applying for loans to purchase property in these neighborhoods. Draper's peer lenders had applications for properties in majority-Black and Hispanic areas in the Chicago metro at over two and-a-half times the rate and in the Boston metro area at three times the rate that Draper generated such applications. Draper also originated disproportionately low amounts of mortgage loans for properties in these neighborhoods, with peers in Chicago and Boston originating two and-a-half times more loans than Draper in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

If entered by the court, the CFPB order would require Draper to: (1) Cease residential mortgage lending activities for five years: Draper cannot perform any residential mortgage lending activities, nor receive any compensation for any residential mortgage lending; and (2) Pay a $1.5 million civil penalty to the CFPB's victims relief fund.

Consumers can submit complaints about financial products and services by visiting the CFPB's website or by calling (855) 411-CFPB (2372).

Employees who believe their company has violated federal consumer financial protection laws are encouraged to send information about what they know to whistleblower@cfpb.gov. To learn more about reporting potential industry misconduct, visit the CFPB's website.

Read today's proposed order.

Read the January 17, 2025 CFPB press release.

DRM and Partners Reach Agreement with Baltimore City to Improve Sidewalks and Ramps for People with Mobility Disabilities

 

Disability Rights Maryland (DRM) and their legal partners Disability Rights Advocates, Fox & Robertson, and Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho, on behalf of pedestrians with mobility disabilities, have reached a partial agreement with the City of Baltimore to make sidewalks and curb ramps more accessible for people with mobility disabilities. This is part of the class-action lawsuit Goodlaxson, et al. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore (Case No. 1:21-cv-01454-JKB).    In 2021, DRM and their legal partners filed the lawsuit on behalf of several individuals and organizations, including Susan Goodlaxson, Janice Jackson, Keyonna Mayo, and the IMAGE Center of Maryland. They argued that Baltimore City failed to follow federal disability laws because many of its sidewalks and curb ramps were not built or maintained to be accessible, making it harder for people with disabilities to safely travel around the city and take part in community life.    Baltimore City’s own data shows the issue is widespread. A 2019 review found that only about 1.3% of surveyed curb ramps met ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards. Many sidewalks were also damaged or too narrow for wheelchairs and other mobility devices, forcing people with disabilities to use the street alongside traffic, which is dangerous.    This lawsuit aimed to help everyone with mobility disabilities who has had difficulty using Baltimore’s sidewalks, curb ramps, and pedestrian pathways because they were too steep, narrow, or damaged. The agreement, a partial consent decree, is a step toward fixing these problems. Beginning in the third year of the agreement, the parties will work on a long-term plan to make all sidewalks and ramps accessible.

What Baltimore City Agreed to Do:   Spend $44–50 Million Over Four Years  The City will repair or build thousands of curb ramps and fix tens of thousands of square feet of sidewalks. Focus on Key Areas First Improvements will start in important places like government offices, transportation hubs, hospitals, and business areas -  especially in high-need neighborhoods. Improve the 3-1-1 System People with mobility disabilities can use the City’s 3-1-1 system to report broken sidewalks or ramps. Baltimore City will: Investigate issues within 60 days.  Provide a timeline for fixing the issue within 10 days after the investigation. Aim to fix the problem within nine months.  Quickly respond to complaints about puddles forming on ramps.  Hire ADA Coordinators  Baltimore will appoint coordinators to ensure the repairs meet ADA standards. Raise Awareness The City will educate the public about keeping sidewalks and ramps clear of snow and debris, especially near bus stops and public transportation. Create a Public Database  Baltimore City will maintain an online system to track the conditions of sidewalks and curb ramps.

Source: Disability Rights Maryland email, December 19, 2024

CFPB Sues Comerica Bank for Systematically Failing Disabled and Older Americans

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has sued Comerica Bank for systematically failing its 3.4 million Direct Express cardholders - disabled and older Americans who receive Social Security and other federal benefits. The bank deliberately disconnected 24 million customer service calls, impeding cardholders from exercising their rights under the law, charged illegal ATM fees to over 1 million cardholders, and mishandled fraud complaints while providing federal benefits through the Direct Express prepaid debit card program. The CFPB is asking the court to order Comerica to stop these practices, provide refunds to affected customers, and pay civil penalties to the CFPB's victim relief fund.

Comerica Bank is a subsidiary of Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA), among the 25 largest bank holding companies in the U.S. Incorporated in Delaware, it is headquartered in Texas. Comerica reported total assets of more than $84 billion and total deposits of over $71 billion. Since 2008, the U.S. Department of Treasury has contracted with Comerica Bank to administer the Direct Express program, in which 3.4 million federal beneficiaries receive their monthly benefits payments through prepaid debit cards. Direct Express is a prepaid card that beneficiaries can use to pay for groceries, gas, and other expenses.  

Comerica is in charge of customer service for the millions of Americans using Direct Express, many of whom are unbanked. Rather than ensuring that there was sufficient customer service to handle calls from the benefits recipients, Comerica instead boosted its bottom line. When people had problems with their accounts, it was often impossible to talk to someone for help. 

The CFPB’s investigation found that Comerica failed to ensure sufficient staff and even intentionally disconnected more than 24 million calls. The CFPB alleges that Comerica harmed its customers by:

• Deliberately disconnecting customer service calls: Comerica’s vendors intentionally dropped over 24 million calls from customers before they could reach a representative. Customers whose calls were not dropped were routinely forced to endure excessively long wait times - often more than several hours - to speak with a representative to get help with unauthorized transactions, charge disputes, and lost or stolen cards.
• Charging consumers illegal ATM fees: Over one million Direct Express cardholders were charged ATM fees to access their government benefits in situations where they were legally entitled to free withdrawals.
• Misleading fraud victims: When consumers contacted Comerica alleging they had been fraudulently enrolled into the Direct Express program, the bank’s vendors frequently advised the consumers that “no error occurred” although the bank had determined that there was, in fact, enrollment fraud.
• Imposing illegal terms of service on consumers seeking to stop payments: Comerica led its consumers to agree to waive their consumer protections by requiring cardholders to contact and request merchants to stop pre-authorized payment transfers from their account in situations where the law in fact required the bank to stop the transfers itself.
• Failing to investigate account problems: Under federal law, when a customer notifies a bank about an incorrect or potentially fraudulent charge on their account, the bank must take steps to investigate the error within a specified time period. The CFPB’s investigation found that Comerica failed to meet this requirement more than 20,000 times. When they did investigate, they frequently provided vague and confusing findings or blew off customers altogether.
• Forcing consumers to close accounts, which often resulted in additional fees: The bank’s vendors required thousands of cardholders to close their accounts to stop a preauthorized payment, resulting in consumers incurring additional fees to expedite receipt of their new debit cards to regain access to their government benefits.

Under the Consumer Financial Protection Act, the CFPB has the authority to take action against institutions violating consumer financial protection laws, including engaging in unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices. The CFPB’s lawsuit seeks to stop Comerica’s unlawful conduct, to provide redress for harmed borrowers, and the imposition of a civil money penalty, which would be paid into the CFPB’s victims relief fund. Read today’s complaint.

Consumers can submit complaints about financial products and services by visiting the CFPB’s website or by calling (855) 411-CFPB (2372).

Employees who believe their company has violated federal consumer financial protection laws are encouraged to send information about what they know to whistleblower@cfpb.gov. To learn more about reporting potential industry misconduct, visit the CFPB’s website.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that implements and enforces Federal consumer financial law and ensures that markets for consumer financial products are fair, transparent, and competitive. For more information, visit www.consumerfinance.gov.

Read the December 6, 2024 CFPB article.

The Just Economy Conference 2025 will be on March 26-27, 2025

Washington Hilton

1919 Connecticut Avenue

Washington, D.C. 20009

Register

Hill Day • March 25

The Just Economy Conference is the national event for community, business, foundation, policy and government leaders who want a nation that not only promises but delivers opportunities for all Americans to build wealth and live well. National and local luminaries, visionaries and changemakers gather to network, share ideas, learn and ask hard questions to chart out a better future.

Along with keynote speakers and conversations on the main stage, the conference includes a wide range of conversational sessions and workshops.

 Topics include:

• Community organizing and advocacy
• Fair housing
• Fair lending
• Access to capital and credit
• Workforce and community development
• Business
• Education
• Climate change
• Healthcare
• Impact investing
• Civil and human rights, and others.

Super Earlybird Pricing

General Admission - $700

Nonprofit - $450

NCRC Organization Member - $250

Just Economy Club Member - $350

Student/Intern - $85

Retired - $85

Stay Informed:

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on the Just Economy Conference.

National Community Reinvestment Coalition

740 15th St NW, Suite 400

Washington, DC 20005

11 Salisbury University Fraternity Members & Associates Charged with Assault & Hate Crime

Salisbury, Maryland police have arrested 11 men linked to a fraternity in connection with an assault in October, 2024 that led to hate crime charges. Police said detectives spoke with witnesses and obtained multiple cellphone videos of a man assaulted by several college-aged men on October 15. Detectives were able to identify and meet with the victim, who said a group of men used dating and social messaging apps to invite him to an apartment on University Terrace allegedly under false pretenses of having sex.

According to court charging documents obtained by WBALTV Channel 11 News, the suspect who reached out to the victim represented himself as a 16-year-old person. Police said the victim went to the apartment, where he was surrounded, kicked, punched, and spat upon while the assailants called him derogatory, homophobic names. The charging documents state that one of them struck the victim with a baking sheet. Police said the victim tried to leave several times but was thrown to the floor every time.

As a result, the victim suffered bruising throughout his body and a broken rib and went to a hospital in Cambridge. The charging documents state that the victim did not notify law enforcement of the attack because he was in fear of his safety and retaliation. Investigators said they believe the victim was targeted as a result of his sexual orientation.

Police released the identities of seven of the men charged with first-degree assault, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment, and hate crime offenses: Ryder Baker, 20, of Olney; Bennan Aird, 18, of Milton, Delaware; Riley Brister, 20, of Davidsonville; Cruz Cespedes, 19, of Jarrettsville; Dylan Earp, 20, of Gambrills; Elijah Johnson, 19, of Crofton; and Zachary Leinemann, 18, of Crofton.

The charging documents state that Brister confessed to his involvement in the assault, including kicking, slapping, pushing the victim, and preventing him from leaving the apartment. The charging documents state that one of the suspects, during an interview with detectives, identified others involved in the incident. Police said the suspects are members and/or associates of a fraternity at Salisbury University.

Anyone with information is asked to call Salisbury police at 410-548-3165 or Crime Solvers at 410-548-1776.

Read the November 7, 2024 WBALTV news article.

Read the November 8, 2024 CNN article.

Yehuda Bauer, Preeminent Historian of the Holocaust and Antisemitism, 98

 

Bauer, who fled Nazi Europe shortly before World War II and became one of the foremost historians of the Holocaust, combined academic rigor with humanity as he confronted an unfathomable event and sought to discern its meaning for the future. As a young Israeli historian, he did not set out to become an authority on the Holocaust, or the Shoah, another term used to describe the murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators. Over the next half-century, Dr. Bauer wrote dozens of books that helped form the foundation of modern understanding of the Holocaust and antisemitism. He had lost his extended family in the slaughter, and his work served, in part, to document what had befallen them and so many other victims of Nazi persecution. But he did not regard it as his role simply to “memorialize” the dead, he wrote in his book Rethinking the Holocaust (2001). Instead, he wrote, “I ask questions about what happened and why.” That line of inquiry led him to move beyond existing Holocaust scholarship, which relied in large part on the Nazi bureaucracy’s paper trail and centered on the perpetrators. No true understanding of the Holocaust would ever be reached, Bauer maintained, without studying the victims.

In books including They Chose Life: Jewish Resistance in the Holocaust (1973), Bauer challenged a pernicious notion circulating at the time that Jews went “like sheep to the slaughter.” Citing diaries, correspondence, and oral histories, he showed that the Warsaw ghetto uprising of 1943 - when hundreds of Jewish fighters mounted the best known revolt against the Nazis - was far from the only act of insurrection by Jews in ghettos or elsewhere. He also highlighted on the everyday efforts by Jews to retain the dignity that the Nazis tried to strip away.

Bauer wrote extensively about the American response to the Holocaust, including in the book American Jewry and the Holocaust: The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1939-1945 (1981), and was among scholars who argued that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was unfairly condemned for what critics regarded as his insufficient efforts to stop the Holocaust as it was in progress. Later, Bauer had the painful experience of observing the emergence of pseudo-historians who sought to deny that the Holocaust had occurred or to suggest that the killing had been more limited than was generally understood.

Bauer taught for years at Hebrew University; served as an academic adviser to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust remembrance center in Jerusalem; and helped found the journal Holocaust and Genocide Studies. He explored topics including the founding of the state of Israel and the nature of modern antisemitism. His final books included The Jews: A Contrary People (2014). Bauer’s honors included the Israel Prize, one of the country’s highest honors, bestowed on him in 1998. He spoke critically of Israeli leaders, particularly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he accused of using the Holocaust for nationalistic purposes and as a “tool for politics.”

Read the October 22, 2024 Washington Post article.

Read the entry on Bauer in the Jewish Virtual Library.

Lily Ebert, Who Kept Holocaust Memory Alive on TikTok, 100

Ebert, a Hungarian-born Auschwitz survivor who devoted herself to keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive, including on TikTok, where she drew millions of viewers with her testimonials. She also wrote a best-selling memoir, Lily’s Promise.

The title of Ebert’s book referenced a pledge that she made to herself on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, as a 20-year-old prisoner at Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp in occupied Poland, in 1944. Her mother and her two youngest siblings had been sent directly to the gas chamber. Beneath the heavy smoke from the crematorium, Ebert vowed that she would “tell the world what had happened” not only to her “but to all the people who could not tell their stories.”

Ebert spoke to students, to historians, to politicians, and to journalists. In February 2021, her TikTok account started and it made her an unexpected social media celebrity. In one video, she showed the tattoo branded on her arm upon her arrival at Auschwitz, number A-10572. The TikTok account attracted 2 million followers. In 2023, Ebert was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by King Charles III in recognition of her efforts to educate the public about the Holocaust. 

In Auschwitz, she wrote, “a pall hung over everything, blocking out the sun. The foul smell that had choked us on our arrival, the most sickening and overwhelming smell I had ever experienced, was getting stronger and stronger. Not far away was a tall chimney, smoking furiously, with flames emerging red and bright.” “What kind of factory is that?” she asked another prisoner. “What are they making here? What’s this horrible smell?” “They’re burning your families there,” the woman replied. “Your parents, your sisters, your brothers. They’re burning them.”

After Ebert’s death, King Charles offered his condolences, as did British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In a statement recalling Ebert’s vow to speak of what she had witnessed, Starmer said that she had kept her promise “in the most remarkable way,” and that now “we must keep our promise to her” by carrying forward the memory of the Holocaust.

Image Credit: Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

Read the October 11, 2024 Washington Post article.

Thelma Jean Mothershed Wair, One of the Little Rock Nine, 83.

Thelma Jean Mothershed Wair was a member of the Little Rock Nine, the African-American students involved in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The world watched as they braved constant intimidation and threats from those who opposed desegregation of the formerly all-white high school. Mothershed was a junior when she entered Central. Despite the fact that she had a cardiac condition since birth, she had a near perfect record for attendance.

Mothershed attended Dunbar Junior High School and Horace Mann High School before transferring to Central High. Despite daily tormenting from some white students at Central High, she completed her junior year at the formerly all-white high school during the 1957-58 year. The students who integrated Central High School were known as the Little Rock Nine.

For three weeks in September 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus used the National Guard to block the Black students from enrolling in Central High. This was three years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated classrooms were unconstitutional. In response to Faubus' actions, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent members of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division to escort the students into school on September 25, 1957.

Because the city’s high schools were closed the following year, Mothershed earned the necessary credits for graduation through correspondence courses and by attending summer school in St. Louis, Missouri. She received her diploma from Central High by mail. Mothershed graduated from Southern Illinois University at Cabondale in 1964 with a BA in home economics and earned her MS in Guidance and Counseling Education in 1970; in 1985, she received an administrative certificate in education from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. She taught home economics in the East St. Louis school system for twenty-eight years.

Mothershed Wair also worked at the Juvenile Detention Center of the St. Clair County Jail in St. Clair County, Illinois, and as an instructor of survival skills for women at the American Red Cross Shelter for the homeless. During the 1989-90 school year, the East St. Louis chapter of the Top Ladies of Distinction and the early childhood/pre-kindergarten staff of District 189 honored her as an Outstanding Role Model.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) awarded her and the other Little Rock Nine, along with Daisy Bates, the prestigious Spingarn Medal in 1958. In 1999, President Bill Clinton presented the nation’s highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal, to the members of the Little Rock Nine.

Image Credit: Office of U.S. Rep Vic Snyder (D-Arkansas), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Read the October 28, 2024 Encyclopedia of Arkansas article.

Read the October 21, 2024 Associated Press (AP) article.