Dollar Depot owner wins BankRI suit

PROVIDENCE – The owner of a closed discount-store business has been awarded nearly $2 million in damages in a lawsuit against Bank Rhode Island, according to the Associated Press.
A lawyer representing the bank said it might appeal the jury decision, according to the AP.
The Superior Court lawsuit claimed that Bank Rhode Island forced Joseph Pietrantonio’s Dollar Depot stores out of business when it demanded repayment of funds that had been withdrawn by an employee who was later convicted of embezzlement.
Lawyers for Pietrantonio say the Bank of Rhode Island permitted the employee unauthorized access to the store’s credit line, and then refused to forgive the debt despite knowing the money was withdrawn illegally, the AP said.
She was convicted of stealing more than $540,000 from the Pietrantonio’s business, Empire Merchandising Corp., which owned Dollar Depots in Pawtucket and Cumberland.
The employee, Rhonda L. Hastings, was sentenced in 2009 to two and a half years at the Adult Correctional Institution, Cranston, and two and a half years on home confinement. She was also given five years of probation, according to The Times of Pawtucket.