Now Customers Are Suing Lotus Bank

It appears three white bank executives who run Lotus Bank have gotten the bank sued for violating the civil rights of Jasit Takhar and Anil Gupta. They are two of Lotus Bank’s  Asian Indian customers.

Working with them is like herding cats. And I hate cats. I will leave you with this sage advice from George Custer and most Pakistanis … the only good Indian is a dead Indian. – Lotus Bank Vice President Richard Bauer

Classify this as, “Are you a friggin moron?”

Lotus Bank is not a typical bank. The bank was set up to accommodate the special needs of Detroit’s growing Indian population. Lotus Bank was created by Indian-Americans for Indian. The Lotus Bank has a 17 member Board of Directors of which 14 board members being ethnic Indians.

Lotus Bank being good corporate citizens opened their doors to everyone outside the Indian community. So they hired people outside of the Indian community.

Unfortunately, Lotus Bank hired a bunch of bigoted white guys to run the bank.  They hired Neal Searle and Richard Bauer. The board then hired John Westerheide.

These three idiots were also pretty brazen with their bigotry. They would send out emails referring to their bosses on the Lotus’s Board of Directors as “chimps” like this gem:

Any of the chimps from Lotus call?

Bauer also responded to an employee’s request for tickets to a concert by an Indian musician:

Only interested if someone is going to detonate an incendiary device. If so, I will get tickets for all of them.

White Bigots Begin Harassing Customers

All of these emails came to light when Jasit Takhar and Anil Gupta sued Lotus Bank. The two men claimed Neal Searle, Richard Bauer, and John Westerheide created a hostile business environment. Takhar and Gupta also claim the three violated their civil rights.

The suit stems from a mortgage Gupta and Takhar obtained from Lotus Bank in 2008. Gupta and Takhar contacted Neal Searle in 2010, and informed him business to the hotel was down. Consequently, they said they may have issues making the payments on time.

Searle’s staff told them not worry. The bank would not be taking any action unless they fell 90 days behind on the payments.

Searle threatened foreclosure on the 60th day by saying:

I don’t care what your Indian buddies told you. I make the decisions. Do you understand English?”

Takhar and Gupta allege the bank continued to threaten foreclosure even after they became current in their payments. Serle’s office also demanded $300,000 deposited in the bank as security.

The men received an anonymous envelope in the mail in March of 2012. The package contained hard copies of e-mails exchanged between Searle, Bauer, and Westerheide in 2010 and 2011.

Lotus Bank Board of Directors Tried To Get The Bigots Under Control

The three bigots still work for Lotus Bank. Charman Krishna Malempati told the Detroit Free Press that the men have been disciplined and they still work for the bank:

When the board learned of it, they were reprimanded, and they felt bad about it. They’re working very hard, and they’ve been coached and trained to work with the community.

Takhar and Gupta’s attorney Elizabeth Thomson also told the Free Press:

It is absolutely shocking to me that the people at the top would show such disdain for the people they serve.  They are talking about wanting these people dead?