Former Citigroup executive suing bank was fired for performance, company says

By Tatiana Bautzer

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup alleges that a former managing director suing the bank was fired for performance reasons, rather than for what she said were attempts by the bank to give regulators false information.

On Thursday, the bank responded to a lawsuit filed in May by Kathleen Martin, a former managing director whom Citi hired in 2021 to help with data issues. Martin said in the suit that her supervisor, Chief Operating Officer Anand Selva, asked her to hide "critical information" from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency about the bank’s data-governance metrics.

The lawsuit alleges that Selva wanted to hide information because it would make the bank "look bad" and said Martin was fired on Sept. 25, 2023, in retaliation for her complaints.

The data-governance work was related to a 2020 OCC consent order, according to the lawsuit.

In Citi's filing, the bank said Martin became interim data transformation chair when she replaced her former supervisor and mentor Rob Casper, after he left the bank. It said the bank was already dealing with Martin's performance issues in May 2023, before the events that Martin alleges were the reason for her firing.

The bank also alleged that soon after receiving her mid-year review in July 2023, Martin contacted human resources to say she thought her position was at risk. In its filing, Citigroup said the director "did not take on the feedback she was provided" and the bank replaced her in the data transformation chair role.

Martin was part of a group of Citi employees that have been working to comply with 2020 consent orders by the OCC and the Federal Reserve and fix deficiencies in its risk management, data governance and internal controls.

The bank was fined $136 million by the OCC last month for failing to make progress.

Martin's attorney, Valdi Licul from law firm Wigdor LLP, told Reuters he was pleased with the bank's response, saying it signaled the case has legal merit after the bank had previously filed a motion to dismiss the case.

Licul said he intends to request depositions of senior Citigroup management, including CEO Jane Fraser. "We look forward to conducting the depositions of Ms. Fraser and Mr. Selva to show that they fired Ms. Martin only because she complained about illegal activity," the lawyer added.

Citigroup declined to comment beyond its filing.

The case is Martin v. Citibank NA et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-03949.

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Rod Nickel)