Let’s Talk About the Bank

I write stories from the front and back lines of the newsroom. This story is about the bank.

After writing about my family’s estate, strangers told me to “keep going” because my story helps beneficiaries going through the same experience. Journalists at HOPE responded to my story because they or their friends were dealing with estate issues. If I want to tell a story about the Bank, I will have to go back to the beginning.

My grandmother died on January 7, 2005. I was a college student living in Boston.

On October 24, 2019, the Bank acted as trustee of the Modification of the Dorothea Margaret Stark Revocable Trust (now Irrevocable). Kimberly Benko (employed by Truist at the time) and Scott Friedman (also then employed by Truist) witnessed the 2019 Modification, which substituted Truist (as SunTrust’s successor) for Wachovia Bank as corporate successor co-trustee. Under Florida trust law, this is completely legal.

My grandfather signed his new will on June 27, 2024. My birthday. Because I respect my grandparents’ aging brains, I called them to tell them it was my birthday. My grandfather said excitedly, “We were just talking about you!”

Little did I know that he was signing a new will. Witnessed by two bankers: Lisa Matthews (Truist SVP) and Felipe Soto, CFP, who no longer works at Truist. This new document named the Bank as a fiduciary in my grandfather’s trust. Florida law does not prevent this practice of self-interested involvement.

This is where I remind myself of two important principles:

1. Correlation does not prove causation, and

2. “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

The CFTC ordered Truist Bank to pay $3 million for recordkeeping and supervision failures. I think about this case during my circular conversations with the Bank. The communication lapses1 between encrypted portals and emails seem eerily congruent with the patterns I read in this case. The CFTC established that, from December 2019 to 2024, Bank employees used unapproved communication methods.

CFTC Enforcement Director Ian McGinley noted that the Bank self-reported its misconduct. This cooperation is why its $3 million penalty was “substantially reduced.”

Truist Bank paid $9,125,000 to resolve FIRREA claims. These were claims against SunTrust Bank, which Truist acquired in 2019. The DOJ Civil Division announced the decision jointly with the US Attorney’s Office.

This was the year2 of my grandfather’s Will modification.

SunTrust had a relationship with a New Jersey company, which facilitated structured settlements. The Bank charged vulnerable beneficiaries with documented health problems with fees. SunTrust routinely approved imprudent disbursements to lead poisoning victims near Herculaneum, Missouri.

To be clear, the DOJ press release affirms, “the claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.”

Seven bankers left Truist to join an independent Wells Fargo Financial Network practice. According to Ross Bauer, co-founder and executive chairman of the FiNet practice, “The advisors wanted greater flexibility and autonomy over running their practice but also needed to retain access to banking and lending services.” 3 of those 7 who left Truist were involved with my grandfather’s estate: Kimberly Benko, Scott Friedman and Jose Mercy.

Trusts aren’t just for wealthy families. And that’s why you should care when banks underserve vulnerable beneficiaries. Because of my MS diagnosis, I wonder if the banks saw me as an easy target. See both footnotes one and two for reference.

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