Ex-CEO of Failed Butler Bank Fined $225,000

The former chief executive of Butler Bank in Lowell, Mass., has been banned from the banking business and fined $225,000 in connection with the thrift's failure last year.

Battered by defaults on construction loans, Butler lost more than $30 million in the two years leading up up to its collapse in April 2010, when it was seized by regulators and taken over by People's United Bank of Bridgeport, Conn.

In an enforcement order issued in November and released Friday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said that John H. Pearson Jr. demonstrated a "willful and/or continuing disregard" for the bank's safety and soundness and, in its view, is unfit to serve as a director or officer of any depository institution in the the future.

In a separate order, the FDIC said it was fining Pearson $225,000 as "reimbursement for certain of the bank's losses, costs, and expenses arising" from its failure.

The orders were among dozens the FDIC released Friday that included 13 consent orders, nine civil money penalties, 11 removal and prohibition orders and one prompt corrective action against First Capital Bank in Kingfisher, Okla.

The $55 million-asset First Capital was deemed undercapitalized by regulators and was given 30 days to achieve "adequately capitalized" status.

Also on Friday, the FDIC issued 37 orders terminating previous enforcement actions.

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Community banking Law and regulation
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