Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, Inc. filed a motion to intervene in the Colson-Lawyer’s Title case claiming $33,318 in funds wired to a Prestige Title account with Regions Bank (not Wachovia), but never disbursed or returned. Here is the motion. The motion states that Vanderbilt Mortgage wired the funds on February 17, 2009, which was four days after Lawyer’s Title filed suit and about a month before the Wachovia interpleader.

Vanderbilt’s motion raises several questions. First, why didn’t Vanderbilt file a separate action, since its motion does not establish a connection between Vanderbilt and the Lawyer’s Title action? Second, what was the extent of the Prestige-Colson entities use of Regions accounts and are there any funds in the accounts? Third, has Regions filed any Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) with the government or interpleaded funds in a state court action?

Banks can get in big trouble for not filing SAR’s. AmSouth, which merged into Regions a few years ago, forfeited $40 million to the federal government in 2004 for not filing SAR’s, as explained in this Justice Department press release and Statement of Facts.