5 Litigation Areas For Banks To Watch In 2021

Jean Veta spoke with Law360 about the fallout from the Paycheck Protection Program fraud. Ms. Veta says 2021 could be the year that the federal government broadens its pursuit of PPP fraudsters to include the banks and other lenders that served them. Although the program did not require financial institutions to rigorously vet PPP loan applicants. Some banks could still run into trouble if officials conclude that red flags were missed or ignored. “The government has been working with banks to try to identify those fraudsters, but it's possible that down the road, the government's focus will turn from the fraudsters to the question of whether a bank's controls should have prevented the fraudster from submitting a loan application in the first place,” she adds.