"Accused of fraud, Truist customer seeks $2.5M in defamation suit"

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in an article by Rosie Manins, reported on a lawsuit filed by Wade, Grunberg & Wilson, LLC on behalf of their client, a Gwinnett business owner, against Truist Bank. Truist Bank falsely accused the business owner of committing bank fraud, including by filing a report with the Gwinnett Police Department, despite having video evidence in its possession showing that she was innocent. 

The article quotes Taylor Wilson:

‘Her image had been out in the world as a thief and con artist,’ her attorney, Taylor Wilson, told the AJC on Monday. ‘The publicity surrounding her wrongful identification is not yet fully corrected.’

Wilson said that when his client became aware of the accusation against her and sought a meeting with Gwinnett police officers in late August, the officers reached out to Truist’s investigator to confirm her innocence. The bank ultimately confirmed that, he said.

Wilson said the bank’s unfounded accusation against his client, who immigrated to the United States from Honduras, threatened her lawful immigration status and harmed her business.

He said several media companies corrected or attempted to correct their coverage of the bank fraud after publishing the inaccurate information Gwinnett police released. The AJC is not naming the plaintiff and was not among the outlets that published her image.

‘She values her personal and professional integrity,’ Wilson said of his client. ‘Being publicly identified in her local and broader communities as a thief and scam artist at the hands of Truist is destructive, even when the wrongdoer attempts to put the message back in the bottle after the fact.’

Read the full article (with subscription) here.