New York, NY, Oct. 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union filed complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange, and the New York Attorney General over the failure by Synchrony Financial to disclose a material relationship that compromised the independence of one of its Directors and Audit Committee members, Paget Alves, in contravention of New York Stock Exchange rules on director independence.

In February 2021, Alves joined the Advisory Committee of Project Black, a private equity fund managed by Ariel Alternatives. In February 2023, Synchrony Financial announced a $100 million co-investment in Project Black. At the time, Alves was the chair of the Audit Committee at Synchrony Financial. Alves remains a member of the Audit Committee. In November 2024, Alves was appointed CEO of Sorenson Communications, which is majority owned by Project Black and Ariel Alternatives.

At no point has Synchrony Financial disclosed in either its 10-Ks or proxy statements that it had made a $100 million co-investment with a fund that employs one of its Directors and Audit Committee members as a portfolio company CEO. Alves is also one of two members of the “Operations Group” of Ariel Alternatives.

The SEC has applied greater scrutiny to director independence in recent years, settling charges against a former Board member of an S&P 500 firm in 2024 for failing to disclose a close friendship with a senior executive.

Synchrony Financial has attracted controversy in recent years over its CareCredit subsidiary, which contributed to the firm’s $3.7 billion healthcare lending business in the year ending December 31, 2024, and has been alleged to charge usurious interest rates on medical debt.

OPEIU and CWA are organizing sign language interpreters at Sorenson Communications. The unions and their allies are concerned that poor corporate governance and poor working conditions raise the risk of poor service quality for those who rely on Sorenson for vital communication services.

“Director independence is a bedrock of secure and reliable capital markets,” said CWA President Claude Cummings, Jr. “We strongly urge Synchrony to immediately comply with federal law and reissue their securities filings for the relevant years to clarify that Mr. Alves was not and is not an independent director.”

“Synchrony Financial makes money off of medical debt and now is failing to comply with basic standards for director independence,” said OPEIU President Tyler Turner. “We are proud to join with CWA today to demand accountability.”

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Moira Bulloch
Communications Workers of America
202-434-1168
mbulloch@cwa-union.org