- The bank yesterday made the "stunning" disclosure that an internal investigation regarding ties to fraudster Jason Galanis has been underway for more than a year, says the GeoTeam's Chris Irons.
- Incredibly, the bank calls the investigation "independent," but a bit of digging finds the law firm doing the work has personally represented the company in the past, and is also a client of the lender.
- Irons: "I believe the company can in no way be trusted to perform its own investigation into these matters and until further notice should not be taken at its word." He thinks the SEC at this point has no choice but to use its subpoena power to dig into the matter at Banc of California (BANC +0.9%).
- SA contributor Aurelius, who started the firestorm earlier this week, weighs in on the latest in a new blog post.