PHILADELPHIA -- A federal appeals court panel has overturned a ruling by federal regulators who had banned the former chairman of Crestmont Federal Savings and Loan, Edison, N.J., from banking.
Two of three judges on a panel of the third circuit court of appeals decided that the Office of Thrift Supervision was unwarranted in issuing the ban against Lawrence B. Seidman.
The OTS said Mr. Seidman tried to remove himself from a development partnership so that Crestmont could lend the partnership money. The loan was not approved, and the OTS eventually investigated Mr. Seidman on conflict-of-interest charges, alleging he tried to obstruct a probe into the loan proposal.
U.S. Circuit Judge William D. Hutchinson wrote that the OTs was not justified in removing Mr. Seidman from banking because his attempts to block the probe were unsuccessful.
