UPDATED: Citizens Bank Hit With Two Federal Lawsuits After Cyberattack
GoLocalProv Business Team
UPDATED: Citizens Bank Hit With Two Federal Lawsuits After Cyberattack
Citizens Bank was hit with multiple class action lawsuits in federal court on Wednesday after a purported data breach this week.
According to the 34-page complaint filed in U.S District Court by Rhode Island attorney Jules D’Allesandro, the plaintiffs - who also have national counsel - claim, “On April 20, 2026, the ransomware group Everest publicly claimed responsibility for a cyberattack against Citizens Bank. Everest infiltrated Citizens Bank’s systems and, on information and belief, exfiltrated sensitive information of potentially millions of current and former customers.
In a separate complaint, Rhode Island attorney Peter Wasylyk filed a 40-page complaint on behalf of a plaintiff class against Citizens Financial Group for the cyberattack; Wasylyk represented the plaintiffs in the Deloitte data breach.
It marks the latest in now multiple data breach lawsuits in a week in Rhode Island; as GoLocal reported on April 17, “Hasbro Has Been Hit With Another Lawsuit — This One After Cyberattack.”
On April 21, Citizens Bank acknowledged the data breach in an online statement.
"For Citizens, most of this was masked test data, although a limited set of information for a small number of customers was involved," said the bank. "There is no evidence of unauthorized access to the Citizens network, and our operations continue as normal."
Citizens declined to comment on the lawsuits.
Lawsuit Allegations
In the lawsuit filed against Citizens by D’Allessandro, the plaintiffs allege the bank’s “failure to safeguard, monitor, maintain, and protect highly sensitive personal and financial information, including, upon information and good faith belief, names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security Numbers, and financial account information (collectively, “Personally Identifiable Information” or “PII”).
“Citizens Bank owed a duty of care to Plaintiff and Class Members to provide data security consistent with industry standards and other requirements discussed herein, and to ensure that its systems and networks, the personnel responsible for them, and its information technology partners adequately protected the PII,” the lawsuit continues.
The plaintiffs are suing Citizens on charges of negligence, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, and recklessness.
“As a direct and proximate result of Citizens Bank’s recklessness, Plaintiff and Class Members have suffered and will continue to suffer injuries and damages, including but not limited to the loss of privacy, the loss of value of their PII, out-of-pocket losses, lost time, mitigation expenses, and an imminent, substantial, and continuing risk of fraud, identity theft, and misuse of their PII,” says the lawsuit.
This story was updated at 6:48 PM