The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved Tuesday an agreement to settle allegations that a bank led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and a top Trump-appointed bank regulator violated federal lending discrimination laws, The Hill reported. HUD announced on Tuesday that it approved a settlement between CIT Bank and a California fair lending nonprofit over claims that the bank’s subdivision, OneWest Bank, discriminated against black and Latino customers in the Los Angeles area. The allegations, made in a 2017 complaint to HUD by the California Reinvestment Coalition, cover conduct that occurred while Mnuchin and Joseph Otting, who Trump appointed to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, led the bank. The California Reinvestment Coalition accused OneWest of refusing to offer mortgages, market banking services and operate branches in majority-minority neighborhoods in Los Angeles between 2014 and 2017. The practice, known as “redlining,” is illegal under federal law. CIT Bank did not admit to the allegations in the complaint, but agreed to offer $100 million in mortgages and home loans in majority-minority neighborhoods, invest $5 million in other loan subsidies, spend $1.3 million on advertising and community outreach and provide $1 million in grants for financial education counseling.
