Dhillon on Alex and Ani Lawsuit


Harmeet Dhillon Appears on FBN’s ‘Varney and Co.’ To Discuss Bank of America Gender Discrimination Lawsuit

From Dhillon:

I represent the company, Alex and Ani, which is an american-made, 100% american-made jewelry company with significant sales. The problem is that the bank, which was bailed out by taxpayers is now trying to recoup all of its profits and on the back of some discriminatory practices. So Alex had a great relationship with the bank, so long as they had a male CFO. When Alex and Ani brought in a young female CFO at the end of 2017, all of sudden everything changed. There began to be belittling remarks. There were questions about the dating habits of this and another female executive. And it went downhill from there to the point that there was a false default declared by the bank and as a result of that, the bank shut off their line of credit, their revolver. For several months there have been arguments about that. Without any resolution, as you know, for a large company like that, having the line of credit totally shut off in seasonal business can be very impactful and devastating. So that’s what we’re suing about. And Charles, the law, federal law prevents banks from engaging in this type of predatory and discriminatory lending behavior. Bank of America has been sued and paid out over 200 million in dollars in fines over the years for various gender discrimination  problems.

I can tell you that there was not just one person that we're talking about here. There were many men at the bank who engaged in this activity, and repeatedly, not just against the female CFO, but also against the Chief Marketing Officer. And, generally belittling remarks, treating them like secretaries. This is the kind of thing you see, I used to see when I was younger woman. It's very disappointing to see that in 2019. It is illegal. So the bank can’t do that and what’s most galling as you mentioned in your lead-in, Charles, is that they actually, because of their bad relationship with women and minorities, tried to rehab themselves by featuring minority and women-owned businesses in their advertising. So the hypocrisy is really what is sticking in our craw. We have gone to court to try to remedy this. And hopefully we can work it out, either in litigation or otherwise and get back on track because you know, Charles, this is an american-made business. These are 1500 American Jobs that are impacted by this. So Bank of America needs to do what’s right here.