Illegally Accessing Customer Information At U.S. Banks

Bank secrecy laws enable bank customers to entrust their confidential financial information to banks across the globe, as the OECD explains at page 19, ¶ 29 of “Improving Access To Bank Information For Tax Purposes“.

By obligating banks to protect a bank customer’s confidential information, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act at 15 U.S.C. § 6801 (b) provides bank secrecy in the United States:

(b) Financial institutions safeguards

In furtherance of the policy in subsection (a) of this section, each agency or authority described in section 6805(a) of this title shall establish appropriate standards for the financial institutions subject to their jurisdiction relating to administrative, technical, and physical safeguards -

(1) to insure the security and confidentiality of customer records and information;

(2) to protect against any anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of such records; and

(3) to protect against unauthorized access to or use of such records or information which could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to any customer.

Despite the existence of the above-cited bank secrecy law, some still try to illegally access U.S. bank customer information. The fact pattern I described at “Violating Federal Law In An Asset Search” could be such a case. It mentioned how a bank employee or “insider” may have accessed a bank’s computer system to illegally search for financial intelligence about a divorcing spouse.

According to the Court in Chapman v. U.S.A., 346 F.2d 383 (9th Cir. 1965) physically stealing a bank customer’s file might possibly constitute a theft of bank property under 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (b). If bank customer information is accessed through false pretenses by pretext calls or by a false writing, then other federal crimes may too have occurred.

Identity theft charges might also be brought in certain cases, for illegally accessing bank customer information. Depending on the circumstances, the following are some of the federal statutes that might apply when U.S. bank customer information is illegally accessed:

18 U.S.C. § 2 (Principals, {aiding and abetting});;
18 U.S.C. § 371 (Conspiracy);
18 U.S.C. § 2113 {b} (Federal Bank Robbery Act, theft of bank property);
18 U.S.C. § 1030 (Fraud and related activity in connection with computers)
18 U.S.C. § 1343 (Wire fraud);
18 U.S.C. § 1349 (Conspiracy to commit wire fraud);
18 U.S.C. § 1341 (Frauds and swindles, {mail fraud});
18 U.S.C. § 1028 (Fraud and related activity in connection with identification documents, authentication features, and information, {identity theft});
15 U.S.C. § 6801 et. seq. (the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, prohibits pretext phone calls and / or the use of false documents to obtain non-public bank customer information).