A Chicago suburb is suing Fifth Third for allegedly enabling its former mayor to steal $1.9 million in public funds.

Between April 2022 and May 2023, Tiffany Henyard, while serving her sole term as mayor of Dolton, Illinois, allegedly misappropriated village funds by cashing at least 251 checks to vendors that had been signed by her but not Village Clerk Alison Key, as required by Dolton ordinance.

The Village of Dolton alleged that Fifth Third acted in bad faith because it “had actual knowledge” that Henyard was stealing public funds from village bank accounts but “deliberately refrained” from investigating or reporting her transactions. The plaintiff also alleged the bank knew Henyard was authorizing checks without Key’s signature, in violation of the ordinance.

In addition to the loss of $1.9 million in taxpayer dollars, Fifth Third’s alleged negligence has also stuck Dolton with debt and interest payments, according to the lawsuit.

Fifth Third acted “in violation of reasonable commercial banking standards,” the village said. The Cincinnati-based regional bank also breached its contract with Dolton, acted with negligence, violated Illinois’ Uniform Commercial Code and aided and abetted Henyard’s misappropriation of funds, according to the lawsuit.

The bank’s master treasury management agreement, however, does not recognize dual signor or counter signor requirements, and the village’s attorney acknowledged that in a court document. Fifth Third said it would take no action to enforce or monitor the counter signature, said the document, which was signed by the village’s attorney.

Henyard was not named in the lawsuit. She was also involved in a federal investigation into a $200,000 payment to a contractor who was sentenced to prison for bribery in 2024, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Henyard was also the subject of a noncriminal investigation last year by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who’s now a consultant. Lightfoot found Henyard mishandled Dolton’s money through “excessive” spending with “little oversight.”

Lightfoot’s investigation revealed that Henyard spent more than $171,000 on travel between 2021 and 2024 and more than $48,000 on Amazon.

A spokesperson for the village did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Banking Dive. The spokesperson declined to comment on the litigation against Fifth Third to the Sun-Times.

A Fifth Third spokesperson told Banking Dive that the claims have no merit, and that the bank “intend[s] to move to dismiss.”