Wells Fargo sued for race bias in lending

“Illinois filed a lawsuit on Friday against Wells Fargo & Co. accusing it of discriminating against black and Latino homeowners by employing racially biased lending practices.(1) San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. allegedly sold high-cost subprime mortgage loans to minorities while white borrowers with similar incomes received lower-cost loans, according to the lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. “As a result of its discriminatory and illegal mortgage-lending practices, Wells Fargo transformed our cities’ predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhoods into ground zero for subprime lending,” Madigan said.”

Article:

Suit says police and regulators targeted African-American hair salons

From the Mercury News.com:

“The federal lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges the Moreno Valley Police Department, the Sheriff’s Department and a state inspection board conducted searches under the false pretext that they were part of a health inspection.

“There was no evidence of criminal activity at these locations and no reason that these once-thriving businesses were singled out other than racial profiling,” said Peter Bibring, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which filed the lawsuit. “These raids were a blatant violation of these business owners’ civil rights.”

The lawsuit cites raids from last April in which Moreno Valley police, city code officers and inspectors from the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology raided five barbershops that were owned and patronized by blacks.

At Fades Unlimited, officers ran criminal warrant checks on barbers and customers, the lawsuit claims. The ACLU said a barber who objected was handcuffed and detained in a police car for 10 minutes. “