BofA Board Sued for Pandemic Freeze of Unemployment Benefits (1)

A pension fund sued Bank of America Corp.'s senior leaders, claiming they worsened the economic misery of the Covid-19 pandemic with a hair-trigger fraud policy of freezing prepaid unemployment benefit cards first and asking questions later.

The lawsuit, made public Monday, targets current and former members of the board and management, including CEO Brian Moynihan. It accuses them of responding with “illegal, self-serving policies” to a surge in fraud reports involving unemployment benefits offered through its prepaid debit cards.

According to the new complaint in Delaware’s Chancery Court, BofA’s leaders knew they could have headed off the problems by ...