Federal regulators are seeking to recover more than $18 million from the directors and officers of two failed Georgia banks.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. filed two lawsuits March 14. In one, the FDIC sued eight former directors and officers at McIntosh Commercial Bank in Carrollton. The agency seeks at least $12.03 million from those people.
The second suit, against six directors and officers at the former Century Security Bank in Duluth, seeks $6.39 million.
Both banks failed in 2010, amid a wave of Georgia bank failures that followed the real estate bust. McIntosh’s failure cost the FDIC an estimated $123.3 million, while Century Security’s cost nearly $30 million.
The McIntosh officers and directors are accused of negligence in approving certain commercial real estate loans, extending credit based on inaccurate information or making loans to borrowers who were not credit-worthy, and knowingly approving loans that violated the bank’s own policies.
Century Security’s directors and officers allegedly breached their fiduciary duties by approving at least seven transactions that violated the bank’s policies, according to the FDIC suit.
Attorneys for both banks’ directors and officers did not return phone calls seeking comment.
The FDIC also sued eight directors and officers for the failed Habersham Bank for $15.32 million in February; 11 directors and officers of the failed Oglethorpe Bank for $9.88 million in January; and 16 directors and officers of the failed Darby Bank for $15.1 million in November.
Since 2011, the directors and officers of 23 failed Georgia banks have been named in FDIC lawsuits. Georgia leads the nation with 87 bank failures since 2008.
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