Power Breakfast: Regulators sue former execs over Duluth bank failure, Atlanta schools, license plates, debt talks

Federal bank regulators have sued 15 former directors and officers of a failed Duluth bank, accusing the officials of gross negligence and other breaches of their duties, AJC writer Scott Trubey reports.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. alleges improper lending practices and is seeking to recover nearly $40 million in losses to Haven Trust Bank, Trubey writes. The bank failed in December 2008.

It is just the second liability suit filed by the FDIC against insiders of a failed Georgia bank, Trubey reports.

Georgia leads the nation in bank failures with 65 since mid-2008, Trubey writes. Haven Trust’s failure resulted in a loss of $248 million to the FDIC’s insurance fund, the backstop that protects depositors.

A lawyer for all 15 defendants, in a statement, denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the case in court, Trubey reports.

Also in the AJC:

• Delta planes collide on taxiway at Boston airport
• Atlanta schools board member wants Hall to return bonuses
• Controversy over new Georgia license plate
• Project could bring hundreds of jobs to Rome
• Vacation home sales take hit in recession
• State proposes increases in Medicaid co-payments

In other media:

• Face-saving deal over federal debt in works
• FBI probes News Corp. over alleged 9/11 hacking
• Rebekah Brooks resigns in Murdoch hacking scandal
• World stocks weak over debt warnings

- Henry Unger, The Biz Beat

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