FDIC Says Ex-NFL Star Dropped the Ball at Failed Chicago Bank

Jim McMahon may have been a master at the Super Bowl Shuffle dance, but the former Chicago Bears quarterback apparently was less skilled as a bank director.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has accused McMahon of neglecting his duties as a director of Chicago's Broadway Bank, which failed two years earlier.

McMahon, known for his signature headband and for helping the Bears to win the Super Bowl in 1985, "approved loans he was told to approve without questioning" and "received critical regulatory reports but did nothing in response," the FDIC said in a motion filed last week in thU.S. District Court in Chicago. The motion also accuses McMahon of ignoring bank status reports and missing many board meetings.

The motion, which was first reported Tuesday by the Chicago Sun-Times also goes after other Broadway directors who, like McMahon, are trying to have the case dismissed. The FDIC first filed its lawsuit in March again former officers and directors, as the agency attempts to recover about $104 million that Broadway lost on ill-advised loans.

The lawsuit also targets former Broadway CEO Demetris Giannoulias, the brother of former Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, who unsuccessfully ran for President Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat.

McMahon, like other directors, should be held "culpable" for Broadway's failure, the FDIC motion says. McMahon was a Broadway director from 2003 to 2008. MB Financial in Chicago acquired Broadway's assets when it failed in April 2010.

McMahon isn't the only ex-pro football player to be the target of an FDIC lawsuit. The FDIC has sought to ban former Minnesota Vikings tight end Stu Voigt from banking, and fined him $125,000, for making improper loans while serving as the chairman of First Commercial Bank of Bloomington, Minn. Unlike McMahon, Voigt never won a Super Bowl ring; the Minnesota Vikings have lost four Super Bowls.

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