Offer accepted by Westminster to settle litigation

Westminster has accepted an offer to settle its litigation against its former bank—-a case that involved a former city police chief.  Jeff Lord, city administrator, says the city council last night accepted an offer of $100 thousand from First Citizens to settle last January’s lawsuit in which the bank and former Chief of Police Scott Bannister were named defendants.  Lord is referring reporters’ questions about the settlement to Derek Enderlin, city attorney. The lawsuit blamed First Citizens for what the city allegesdwas an embezzlement scheme that went “unchecked for years.”  The lawsuit alleged that, in spite of “red flags, First Citizens cashed or negotiated for Bannister 195 fraudulent checks totaling $235 thousand.  Bannister was sentenced to prison in 2014 for two years.