EAST ST. LOUIS - The Metro Chamber of Commerce claims Lindell Bank denies loans and grants as they are received without considering the requests.
Metro Chamber of Commerce, Richard Ruel, Rashee Ali and Ulice Jordan filed a federal lawsuit on Feb. 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against the First Illinois Bancorp, Inc. doing business as Lindell Bank, BKD Advisors and M. Leon Hall, alleging discrimination. The plaintiffs are representing themselves pro se.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim they were subjected to blatant and open discrimination when applying for any application, approval in disbursements of loans, grants and equity investments. The plaintiffs allege their company was denied a request for bank participation on three occasions. They claim the defendants did not giving serious consideration to their request, prejudging the application as denied on arrival. The plaintiffs allege the defendants failed to meet their fiduciary responsibilities, leaving disproportionate amounts of uncapitalized community development projects.
The plaintiffs seek an order requiring the defendant to fulfill CRA regulation enforcements and to comply with the OCC threshold of 15 percent of capital and surplus for future projects. They also seek a relief of $1.2 billion dollars that represent a 10-year look-back contributing to the economic decline of the community.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:22-cv-00228