


On November 12, 1999, President Clinton signed the “Financial Services Modernization Act” into law, which made conducting bank account searches by asset search companies impermissible and a federal crime as you could no longer use false pretenses to obtain bank account information from either banks or bank customers, which is how bank account searches are conducted (and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise). Please visit www.assetsearchesplus.com(Leanne put the link to our blog and primary bank account search article here) for a detailed description of the Act and certain limited exemptions.

The Board of Bar Overseers followed suit and said that any attorney who has a bank account search conducted on their behalf or has their client conduct a bank account search, will be vicariously liable for the Federal violations, and the applicable sanctions of the Boards. Then various Attorneys’ General offices throughout the United States also began filing complaints against asset search companies and their owners, individually, for invasion of privacy and unfair and deceptive business practices, and obtained large judgments across the country against them.

So guess what? No bank account searches can be conducted. Yes there are asset search companies that advertise that they can conduct bank account searches, but they are running a scam. Confront them with the above information and then listen for the dial tone. As a side note and from a practical standpoint, even if bank account searches were permissible, they are almost physically impossible to conduct now with all the new banking regulations and security protocol that has been put into place since 911 so don’t waste your time, money or expose yourself to liability for trying. So then, what can and must you do to satisfy your due diligence regarding asset searches then? Read on and find out.


Published In: Business Torts Updates, Family Law Updates, Personal Injury Updates, Products Liability Updates, Professional Malpractice Updates


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