A federal bank regulator is suing the former CEO of a failed Henry County bank, alleging he defaulted on loans and is sheltering assets in the name of relatives and various companies.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. alleges Hans Broder Jr., the former top officer of the failed Enterprise Banking Co., made property transfers to relatives and two companies "to hinder, delay or defraud creditors" seeking repayment, according to two civil lawsuits filed last week in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.
Broder allegedly defaulted on a nearly $912,000 loan issued in March 2005 by Silverton Bank, an Atlanta bank closed in 2009. He also is accused of defaulting on an $800,000 loan issued in April 2007 by Rockbridge Commercial Bank, a Sandy Springs lender also closed in 2009.
Transferring ownership of at least eight properties, which the FDIC contends are worth more than $2 million in all, "rendered Mr. Broder insolvent with insufficient assets" to pay the debt, both suits said.
A message left for Broder was not immediately returned.
Georgia leads the nation with 83 bank failures since mid-2008. The FDIC took over both Silverton and Rockbridge's assets after the closures, and is responsible for managing the failed banks' affairs, including collecting outstanding loans.
At times, the role of cleaning up failed banks has led the regulator to sue former bankers who had loans with failed institutions. For instance, the FDIC sued and later settled with former bank director and current chairman of the state Senate banking committee, Jack Murphy, for a defaulted loan with Silverton.
Broder took out his Silverton loan using as collateral 5,000 shares of Enterprise stock.
He used as collateral more than 100,000 shares in the parent company of another Henry County lender, First State Bank, for the loan with Rockbridge, the FDIC said.
Enterprise failed in January 2011. First State, where Broder was once president and a director, failed earlier this year. The failures wiped out the value of any stock in the institutions.
From 2008 to 2010, Broder allegedly transferred real estate he owned into the names of his wife and children, as well as two companies with ties to Broder, the complaint said. His wife, four children and the companies also are named as defendants.
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