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Lopez v. First Union National Bank

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The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1997 held that verbal instructions from government authorities, by themselves, are not enough to form a good faith basis to suspect a violation of a law or statute. The bank released information regarding a customer's wire transfers to federal law enforcement authorities based solely upon verbal instructions of the authorities. The customer learned of the action (because of a subsequent seizure order and civil forfeiture) and sued the bank for violation of the Right to Financial Privacy Act, among other things.

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