Speculation has been rampant that the next target declared by Wikileaks’ founder, Julian Assange, may be Bank of America. Today, BofA announced it will join a growing list of businesses trying to stifle the publication of leaked documents and not process payments it believes are intended for Wikileaks.
“Bank of America joins in the actions previously announced by MasterCard, PayPal, Visa Europe and others and will not process transactions of any type that we have reason to believe are intended for WikiLeaks,” the bank said in a statement.
“This decision is based upon our reasonable belief that WikiLeaks may be engaged in activities that are, among other things, inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments.”
Wikileaks tweeted in response to the announcement with an ominous threat.
Meanwhile, Nevada, Arizona sue Bank of America over failed mortgage aid schemes that misled the public.
Echoing recurring complaints about mortgage lenders, authorities in Arizona and Nevada have filed civil fraud lawsuits accusing Bank of America Corp. of misleading troubled borrowers into expecting loan modifications that never came.
The desert states, among the hardest hit by foreclosures, are also part of a 50-state coalition that is negotiating with major banks over a host of foreclosure-related complaints.
But while that joint effort began only recently under the leadership of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, Nevada and Arizona officials said Friday that they had been investigating a flood of loan modification complaints concerning Bank of America for a year and a half.
All this is amongst a growing list of SEC investigations into bank related activities. Last August, Wells Fargo was found guilty of deliberately causing overdrafts and profiteering.
