Citi whistle blower wants share of US$400 million penalty

A Citigroup employee says she provided US regulators with information that led to the bank paying a US$400 million fine. Now, she wants a judge to award her a share of the penalty.

Tamika Miller, a Citigroup auditor, said she supplied federal officials with documents and other evidence that were "instrumental" to the bank's 2020 settlement over risk-management failures, according to documents filed on Monday (Jan 31) as part of a federal lawsuit in Manhattan.

In seeking a payout from the US government, she's citing a whistle-blower law that allows corporate tipsters to pocket as much as 30 per cent of a sanction. For Miller, that could mean a US$120 million windfall.

Blowing the whistle on corporate misdeeds has become lucrative in recent years, with government watchdogs routinely awarding informants millions of dollars for their help with cases.

Last year, for example, regulators doled out US$200 million to one tipster alone for information about Deutsche Bank manipulating interest rates that resulted in the bank paying billions of dollars in fines.

Miller sued Citigroup in 2019, accusing the bank of committing fraud and invoking the False Claims Act, which enables whistle-blowers to bring lawsuits against companies on behalf of the federal government and collect a portion of any settlement.

Months later, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency - an independent bank regulator - fined Citigroup US$400 million for offenses similar to the alleged conduct Miller says she originally described as part of her lawsuit.

The Justice Department ultimately did not pursue the case. Now, Miller says the OCC fine was an alternative remedy, and that's why she should be awarded a portion.

A spokesperson for Citigroup and the OCC declined to comment on Monday's filing.

In 2020, the OCC alleged Citigroup had persistent problems with some of its internal compliance programmes.

"We are disappointed that we have fallen short of our regulators' expectations, and we are fully committed to thoroughly addressing the issues identified," Citigroup said in its statement in response to the original consent order, without admitting wrongdoing. BLOOMBERG