STRUCTURE:

The Justice Department will prioritize redlining investigations with Attorney General Merrick Garland pledging the crackdown on discriminatory lending would be unprecedented in its aggressiveness. [...]

In a sign of the renewed focus, the department brought an enforcement action Friday against a unit of Trustmark Corp., alleging the subsidiary structured its business practices to avoid providing home loans and other mortgage services to people living in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the Memphis area. 

From 2014 through 2018, the unit's alleged redlining practices included having nearly all its branches and loan officers in majority-white neighborhoods, according to the government's lawsuit filed in federal court in Tennessee. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Jackson, Mississippi-based Trustmark agreed to pay $5 million in penalties to the CFPB and OCC. The lender, which has $17 billion of assets, will also make several changes to its lending program.

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