Business & Tech
Lotus Bank Customers to Protest Racial Discrimination Today
Two Lotus Bank customers of Indian descent, including one from Canton, filed a lawsuit in March outlining a history of hostile treatment from bank employees.
Jasit Takhar of Canton and Anil Gupta of Troy will protest 3 to 5 p.m. today with their supporters at Novi-based Lotus Bank, 44350 West 12 Mile Rd, for discrimination claims against the bank.
In March, Takhar and Gupta filed a lawsuit outlining a history of hostile treatment from bank employees, including bank president and CEO Neal Searle.
Executives of Novi-based Lotus Bank are being accused of discriminatory treatment against these two Indian customers, as well as using racially insensitive language in emails about Indian people in general, calling them "chimps", and saying "the only good Indian is a dead one."
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>>Read more about the lawsuit and the emails to be used as supporting evidence.
The bank has reported that 30 percent of the Lotus customer base is Indian and the bank opened a second branch in Farmington Hills, citing its large Asian-Indian population as one of the reasons.
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"We selected communities that both had a business market and an Indian market, and Farmington Hills is the perfect demographic for that," bank president and CEO Neal Searle said.
Anyone who feels they have been mistreated in a similar manner by the bank are asked to contact Attorney Liz Thomson of Hertz Schram at 248-335-5000 or lthomson@hertzschram.com.
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