We are pleased to announce that a documentary on PRCG client Abacus Bank and its successful battle with the New York District Attorney’s Office to fight charges of mortgage fraud was nominated for an Academy Award. The bank was acquitted of all charges in 2015.

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2018 Oscars. The critically-acclaimed film aired on FRONTLINE in September, 2017.

PRCG led the communications effort for the bank, which — despite being a small bank with one of the lowest default rates in the country — was the only U.S. bank indicted as a corporate entity in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The case featured a publicity-hungry prosecutor and the shackling of corporate defendants, chain-gang style, in leg irons as they were entering the courtroom. PRCG worked with media, lawyers and the bank’s executives to counteract the negative publicity for a small Chinatown bank with one of the lowest default rates in the country – a bank that had alerted regulators to potential mortgage fraud and fired the suspected employee immediately.

Read about Abacus Bank’s story in The New York Times and Crain’s New York Business.