City National Bank Faces California Whistleblower Lawsuit

In recent news, a former senior vice president for City National Bank alleges he was fired due to whistleblower retaliation.

The Case: Fausto Bustos v. Royal Bank of Canada et al

The Court: U.S. District Courts, California Central District

The Case No.: 2:21-cv-04879

The Plaintiff: Fausto Bustos v. Royal Bank of Canada et al

The plaintiff in the case is Fausto Bustos, former senior vice president for City National Bank. Bustos filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against his former employer in California Federal Court alleging he was fired due to whistleblower retaliation which is a violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. This particular Act allows California employees to sue their employers in federal court if their employer wrongfully terminates them or otherwise retaliates against them because they report unlawful practices or illegal acts. Bustos worked at City National Bank’s downtown Los Angeles location. After raising concerns about the bank’s lax internal controls, misconduct in accounting practices, and potential tax fraud that stemmed from a reorganization of the financial institution’s digital technology department, Bustos claims he was wrongfully terminated.

The Defendant: Fausto Bustos v. Royal Bank of Canada et al

The defendant in the case is City National Bank, Royal Bank of Canada’s U.S. subsidiary.

The Case:Fausto Bustos v. Royal Bank of Canada et al

According to the complaint, Bustos was hired as the bank’s VP of Digital Development Services Lead with their Business and Technology Services (BATS) division in 2015. In this position, Bustos was responsible for managing the Bank’s digital applications portfolio. He was also responsible for managing a number of project teams and contractors responsible for development. Only four months after his hiring, he received stellar employment reviews from his supervisors, and he was promoted to Senior Vice President by 2017. In the position of Senior Vice President, his job duties expanded, and did his oversight responsibilities. In 2018, following a reorganization of the department, Bustos claimed he saw significant accounting errors due to a lapse in financial controls that signified a significant risk to the bank as a whole, an internal investigation led to discovering approximately $5.4 million in misallocated invoices. Soon afterward, in a meeting with HR and the Vice President of Corporate Security, Bustos was accused of misappropriating funds from projects. However, later investigations showed these allegations against Bustos to be baseless, and perhaps retaliatory. Superiors at City National who resented Bustos and his team for calling attention to their misconduct and process deficiencies came up with a layoff plan that effectively got rid of Bustos and several of his team members within weeks. While they were “let go” due to a supposed reorganization, their jobs were soon listed on hiring websites, and internal memos discussed recruitment needs.

If you need help with employment law violations in the workplace, get in touch with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP today. Experienced employment law attorneys are ready to assist you in various law firm offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Chicago.