LA TIMES-
When lawyers for the city of Los Angeles took Deutsche Bank to court two years ago, they decried the world’s-fourth largest bank as among the city’s worst slumlords and sought hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties and restitution.
But a settlement announced by city officials Friday only delivered $10 million —none of which will be paid directly by the bank. The bank does, however, have to ensure its foreclosed properties are properly maintained in the city, L.A. officials said.
That could be a transformative move for some city neighborhoods because the Frankfurt, Germany-based bank foreclosed on more than 2,000 homes between 2007 and 2011 in areas like the San Fernando Valley, South Los Angeles and northeast Los Angeles, according to the suit.
City lawyers had accused Deutsche Bank of letting hundreds of its properties fall into disrepair which, in turn, bred crime. City officials also said that some tenants were illegally evicted, while others lived in squalor and many properties became graffiti-scarred dens for squatters or criminals.
“This particular bank is … helping to destroy communities,” City Councilman Dennis Zine said in 2011.
[LA TIMES]
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