Banc of California Whistleblower’s Salacious Allegations Made Public
- posted: Mar. 08, 2018
- Whistleblower Litigation
According to a recently filed whistleblower lawsuit, Banc of California Inc., which is under investigation by federal regulators after being linked to a con man’s illegal activity, allegedly inflated its profits while ignoring a top executive in the corporation using company money to pay for strippers.
According to the lawsuit, a decision by company management to reverse accrued bonuses of company employees resulted in Banc of California improperly carrying over revenues earned in 2016, which made it look more profitable in 2017 than it actually was.
The whistleblower is Heather Endresen, who worked as a managing director for the Small Business Administration loan program at the bank. She claims to have been wrongfully terminated after raising complaints about the bonus pool shifting and the behavior of ex-CFO Francisco Turner, the man who allegedly used company money to pay for strippers and had sex with employees in his office. According to Endresen, Turner also used drugs and routinely pressured employees to participate with him.
Turner denies the allegations. Endresen says she was told by the bank’s legal team that there was no company policy against sexual activity in the workplace or using corporate money to pay for strippers.
Legal difficulties
This is not the first time Banc of California has landed in the legal spotlight for the wrong reasons. In October 2016, an anonymous short seller wrote and published a report in which they alleged ties between executives at the firm and Jason Galanis, an imprisoned con man and former financier.
The firm is also embroiled in another whistleblower lawsuit filed this past August by a former vice president who alleges he and other employees were terminated after raising concerns about the conduct of bank directors and officers.
To learn more about your legal options if you believe you’ve been wrongfully terminated, consult a knowledgeable Dallas whistleblower attorney at Whistleblower Law for Managers.
