Dolton is looking to reclaim almost $2 million from a bank it says failed to take proper steps to identify fraudulent checks signed by former Mayor Tiffany Henyard.
The village is suing Fifth Third Bank, claiming it acted in bad faith by allowing Henyard to sign 251 checks between April 2022 and May 2023 that did not include the signature of Village Clerk Alison Key, as was required under a resolution approved by the Village Board. Henyard herself is not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.
“Fifth Third Bank … knowingly and intentionally paid checks on behalf of the Village of Dolton that it knew should not have been paid,” the lawsuit, filed Feb. 6 in Cook County, states.
Henyard, was mayor from May 2021 through May 2025. The lawsuit says Henyard “stole or misappropriated” about $1.9 million by signing payments to vendors with checks from the village that were missing Key’s signature.
Fifth Third Bank said it had no comment on the lawsuit. Henyard’s attorney, Beau Brindley, did not immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment.
The lawsuit alleges the loss of $1.9 million in funds led the village to incur multiple debts, taking on interest payments from those debts, and to miss out on investments. The village is looking to all of the allegedly misappropriated or stolen funds from Fifth Third.
The lawsuit alleges the bank, under contract with Dolton, violated both a village resolution passed May 12, 2021, and reasonable commercial banking standards by paying the checks to vendors. It accuses Fifth Third of breach of contract, negligence, violating state Uniform Commercial Code, breach of implied contract and aiding and abetting.
Fifth Third “had actual knowledge that Tiffany Henyard was violating her fiduciary duties in stealing and/or misappropriating public funds from the Village of Dolton accounts at Fifth Third Bank, but deliberately refrained from investigating or reporting her activities to avoid knowing more about her breach of fiduciary duty,” the lawsuit states.
The village had at least 10 bank accounts with Fifth Third’s 475 East 162nd St., South Holland location by May 2021, according to the lawsuit.
The village instructed the bank May 10, 2021, to add Henyard and Key to all of its accounts, and provided the bank with resolution that required each check paid from Dolton’s bank accounts be authorized and signed by both Henyard and Key.
“The Village of Dolton relied upon and trusted that Fifth Third Bank would identify any fraud, misstatement, or theft from the Village of Dolton’s funds,” the lawsuit states.
The village’s contract with Fifth Third implied duties of the bank including seeing that all checks were authorized by the required number of authorized signatures and informing the village of all checks that were not properly authorized or that were missing the required number of signatures, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states commercial banking standards also required that checks validly drawn from the accounts be authorized with two signatures.
A Dolton spokesperson said in a statement to the Daily Southtown the village is unable to comment on ongoing litigation. The spokesperson said the village will share a formal update as the case progresses.
A quorum of village trustees began meeting on their own in 2022, noting contracts Henyard signed with vendors without authorization of the Village Board and seeking to curb spending. In December 2022, they created a committee to oversee how Dolton spent about $3 million in federal funds received through the American Recovery Plan Act.
The trustees accused Henyard of demanding the board pay bills for money that was spent without prior authorization. Henyard countered by saying the spending was either authorized by the board through previous approval of various programs or that expenses did not require board approval.
The board ultimately hired former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to investigate Henyard and village finances. Lightfoot’s report, presented in January 2025, stated that just months after her election, Henyard made a “concerted and systematic effort” to hide the condition of village finances from trustees.
Lightfoot said at the time Dolton still owed at least $5 million to vendors for goods and services and ran a budget deficit.
“Residents of Dolton have suffered needlessly because of the financial mismanagement of the current mayor,” Lightfoot told reporters.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
