The New York attorney general's office has filed a lawsuit against regional lender Evans Bank, accusing it of denying mortgages to African-Americans regardless of their credit. Prosecutors claim the bank created a map that defined a “trade area,” places in the Buffalo region where the bank would make mortgages and other loans. The map excluded much of Buffalo’s East Side, with its large minority population. From 2009 to 2012, Evans received 1,114 applications for residential mortgages, but only four came from African-American applicants. The charges come amid a spate of discriminatory lending lawsuits. Providence, R.I., sued Santander Bank in May, accusing it of refusing to lend in predominantly minority neighborhoods and the Los Angeles city attorney sued JPMorgan Chase in May, accusing it of both reverse redlining and traditional redlining.