In an opinion yesterday, Magistrate Judge Gorenstein rejected the Bank of China’s attempt to withhold from discovery documents that the bank claimed were privileged because they relate to “Suspicious Activity Reports” (or SARs) that financial institutions must file with regulators to alert them of suspicious customer behavior. Federal regulations state that “any information that would reveal the existence of a SAR” is generally confidential.  The bank established a process for investigating suspicious conduct, and the culmination of the process is a committee vote as to whether or not to file a SAR.  According to the bank, “documents produced at each step of this process are protected by the SAR privilege since they result from the implementation of BOC’s policies and procedures for the filing of SARs.” Judge Gorenstein disagreed.
Continue Reading Judge Gorenstein Rejects Broad Version of Bank Privilege to Withhold Documents Related to “Suspicious Activity Reports”