Former Wilmington Trust shareholders press for documents

    (file/Newsworks)

    (file/Newsworks)

    Attorneys for former shareholders suing over the collapse of Wilmington Trust are renewing their press for internal bank documents following last week’s indictment of several former bank executives.

    In a letter this week, attorneys for the shareholders told a federal judge that the indictment relies on and even quotes from documents that defendants in the lawsuit, with the support of state and federal banking regulators, have refused to provide. The documents are being withheld based on what regulators describe as the bank examination privilege.

    But the plaintiffs argue that Federal Reserve officials should not be allowed to withhold documents in the civil suit while government officials use those same documents in their criminal case against former Wilmington Trust officials.

    The judge has ordered Federal Reserve officials to respond by Monday.

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