In Wake of Theft, City Shifts Banks

The city of Inglewood, which is embroiled in a dispute with Wells Fargo Bank over $1.3 million stolen from city accounts, filed suit this week against Wells Fargo and began transferring its funds to Inglewood-based Imperial Bank.

The owner of a janitorial firm that cleaned City Hall has been charged with stealing 34 blank checks from the city finance office, forging the names of city officials on the checks, and cashing them for amounts ranging from $50,000 to $470,547. Seung Chul Chang, owner of Sun Building Maintenance, has pleaded not guilty to 29 felony counts.

Inglewood officials blamed Wells Fargo for clearing the checks, but bank officials said city auditors would have caught the embezzlement if they had reviewed their bank statements. The City Council on Wednesday filed suit against Wells Fargo, Chang and Sun Building Maintenance in an effort to recover the stolen funds, some of which were allegedly gambled away in Las Vegas casinos.

Imperial, which has $3.5 billion in assets and branches throughout the state, is one of California’s 10 largest banks, bank officials said. The City Council decided Tuesday to open its primary checking account with Imperial. The city will also move accounts for the city redevelopment agency, housing authority and parking authority to Imperial.