- A former Bank of America analyst charged over $20,000 to his corporate card at an “adult venue,” a complaint from the securities industry self-regulator FINRA filed Friday alleges.
- The former employee still has not paid the firm back and said that his card was stolen, the complaint said.
- But a recording of the employee phoning his corporate card’s call center shows otherwise, the complaint alleged.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A former Bank of America analyst charged close to $21,000 at an “adult venue” to his corporate credit card and didn’t pay the company back, a complaint filed Friday by a financial regulatory authority alleged.
Paramveer Singh had worked at Bank of America Securities, the investment banking division formerly known as Bank of America Merrill Lynch, for five years when he visited an unnamed “adult venue,” according to his BrokerCheck profile and the FINRA complaint. From the evening of May 29 into the early hours of the morning, Singh spent thousands of dollars at the adult venue, racking up charges that totalled $20,767.96, the complaint alleged.
Then, between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. in the morning, Singh’s corporate card was declined, and he made a call to the corporate call center to inquire about the declined charges, the complaint said. During the call, which was recorded, he confirmed personal details about himself, including his identity, the credit limit of the card, and his email address on file, the complaint said. At the time, he said he was visiting the venue with a client, the complaint said.
But just two days later, on May 30, Singh called the same call center, claiming that he had lost his Bank of America card at the venue and that the charges were the result of fraud, the complaint claimed. Later that summer, when Bank of America investigated the case, he also claimed that the card had been stolen and the charges were fraudulent, the complaint said.
Bank of America paid the sum and later “discharged” Singh, the complaint said. He has still not paid Bank of America back, the complaint alleged.
After leaving Bank of America, Singh worked at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc for six months. His tenure ended in July, according to his BrokerCheck file.
Additional details from the complaint allege that Singh was a regular at the adult venue, spending nearly $30,000 on his personal credit cards in the spring and summer of 2019. Besides the thousands he charged to his Bank of America corporate card, Singh charged around $8,400 to his personal credit card at the adult venue that night, the complaint said.
When the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulator that oversees securities professionals, investigated the case, Singh told them that “I am 100 percent certain that I did not make the charges. . . . I did not authorize those charges and I have no idea who actually used it on that May 29th/May 30th,” the complaint said. In addition, Singh denied phoning the call center, even after a recording was played for him, the complaint said.
The complaint requests that Singh faces a FINRA panel about these allegations and that he pays the $20,767.96 back, with interest.
Singh did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
“As a matter of policy, we do not publicly comment on former employees,” said Joseph Kuo, a spokesperson for Oppenheimer.
A Bank of America representative referred Business Insider to allegations posted on Singh’s BrokerCheck file, which show that he was discharged in September of 2019, under the allegation he performed “conduct involving the use of a corporate credit card inconsistent with the firm policy.”
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