The U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) announced yesterday that the independent auditor appointed under a nationwide settlement between the USTP and Citigroup Inc. (Citi) to protect the personal information of nearly 150,000 consumers in 85 jurisdictions has filed his final report, bringing the settlement to a successful conclusion. Under the settlement, Citi agreed to redact proofs of claim filed in bankruptcy cases nationwide in which the personal information of consumer debtors and third parties, including Social Security numbers and birthdates, had not been properly redacted by Citi as required by the bankruptcy rules. Also under the settlement, Citi agreed to notify all affected consumers and offer them one year of free credit monitoring and to change its internal practices and procedures so the redaction error does not recur. The settlement called for the appointment of a privacy expert to serve as independent auditor to review and certify the accuracy of the remediation process.
