Bank Refunds Money to Irate Senator (Gregg Robbery) [View All]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43389-2003Oct17.html

The day after his wife was abducted and forced to withdraw cash from a McLean bank, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) called the branch manager and chastised her for the bank's "stupid" actions during the robbery and soon was refunded the $4,000 that was stolen, three Wachovia employees said.

The branch manager, Parisa Davoudian, said Gregg hung up on her after demanding to speak to a higher-ranking Wachovia Bank official. Davoudian and two of her employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that a customer who was robbed of her own money, as Gregg's wife was, typically would not be entitled to a refund. They also said that Wachovia officials had decided before the senator's inquiry that the robbery was a customer loss and not a bank loss.

Gregg declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the senator, Erin Rath, said, "We understand the situation has been satisfactorily resolved between the Greggs and the bank."

Wachovia corporate officials would not discuss an individual customer's situation, citing privacy concerns. Of robbery victims in general, Wachovia spokeswoman Sarah Greene said, "We would treat each situation on a case-by-case basis. . . . It wouldn't have anything to do with a customer's status or position in the community."