Settlement offer on table

The offer by a bank to settle a lawsuit is an agenda item tomorrow night for the Westminster City Council.  Under new business, the item reads “Consider settlement offer by First Citzens Bank in the matter of City of Westminster v. First Citizens.”  The agenda calls for an executive session to discuss the offer.  In January, Westminster went to court against its former police chief, Scott Bannister, and its former bank, First Citizens.  The lawsuit blames First Citizens for what the city alleges was an embezzlement scheme that went “unchecked for years.”  The lawsuit alleges 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.