Former Exec Accused of Plot Said to Face Ban from Banking

A Connecticut thrift's former president, charged last year with trying to plant cocaine on a business rival to discredit him, has agreed to be banned from banking, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reached an agreement with William R. Wilcox Jr., the former president of Savings Institute, Willimantic, barring him from participating in the affairs of any financial institution, the sources said. The agency had been investigating alleged improprieties at the thrift since April.

FDIC officials would not confirm the order against Mr. Wilcox, who resigned in June, and Mr. Wilcox could not be reached for comment. The sources said a ban order has not been issued by the agency but is likely to be finalized shortly.

Rheo A. Brouillard, who has been president and chief executive of $250 million-asset Savings Institute since August, said he wasn't aware of an FDIC agreement with Mr. Wilcox and couldn't comment on an ongoing investigation.

Susan Peck, Mr. Wilcox's attorney, declined to comment on the matter.

But Michigan lawyer Dennis O. Brown, who has been involved in cases against Mr. Wilcox, said a senior regional FDIC attorney told him that Mr. Wilcox agreed to the order so that the FDIC would not make any factual determinations that could be used in other legal proceedings.

Two other sources, who requested anonymity, confirmed that Mr. Wilcox had agreed to be banned from the industry.

Mr. Brown is the lawyer for a former thrift officer who complained to the FDIC about Mr. Wilcox's alleged improprieties at the bank. The officer, who was fired from Savings Institute, is seeking compensation from the thrift, but has not filed suit.

Mr. Brown also represents Kenneth A. Foisie, president of Connecticut Financial Network, a brokerage firm that operated from Savings Institute branches and shared revenue with the thrift until Mr. Wilcox allegedly terminated the contract. Mr. Foisie is currently suing both the thrift and Mr. Wilcox.

"My clients are encouraged and relieved that the government has finally begun to hold Mr. Wilcox accountable for his scandalous conduct," Mr. Brown said in a statement. "Sadly, many innocent people have been hurt and have had their careers and lives disrupted as a result of the sorry events which played out at the Savings Institute while Mr. Wilcox was its president.

"The logical inference of the FDIC's order is that the prior disclosures were only the tip of the iceberg."

The lawsuits filed by Mr. Foisie and by Leonard Morganson, a former senior vice president and trust officer at the thrift, allege that Mr. Wilcox sought to plant cocaine on William McGurk, president of Savings Bank of Rockville, to discredit him after a merger attempt between the two thrifts failed.

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