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Barney Frank, Maxine Waters and nine other Democrats urged financial regulators in 2010 to consider Certus' charter as a way to create a large minority-run bank headed by managers of "unquestioned character." That bank's big problems since suggest that, at minimum, the vote of confidence was misguided.
April 7 -
The "dream team" of bankers who set up Greenville, S.C.-based CertusBank attracted half a billion dollars from hedge funds to buy failed banks. Lately, the focus has shifted to big losses, lavish spending and payments to a consulting firm owned by top executives.
March 27 -
Three of Certus' ousted executives depict a behind-the-scenes struggle at the Greenville, S.C., bank as management, directors and investors were often working at cross purposes. The lawsuit also discusses a possible merger with an unnamed bank that never took place.
April 24 -
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the founders of CertusBank that claimed they were fired as part of a racist conspiracy at the Columbia, S.C., company.
November 3 -
The Greenville, S.C., company hired John Poelker as interim CEO and ousted its top executives less than two weeks after allegations of financial mismanagement surfaced. Poelker, known for stabilizing struggling banks, could be tasked with cleaning Certus up for a buyer.
April 10
The ousted founders of CertusBank in Greenville, S.C., have filed a new lawsuit against a hedge fund investor.
The latest lawsuit, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, claims that Benjamin Weinger of the hedge fund 3-Sigma Value Opportunities spread lies to get three of Certus' founding executives fired.
Weinger "waged a campaign of misinformation, half-truths and lies against the plaintiffs to convince fellow investors and a majority of the CertusBank board... to remove the plaintiffs from their jobs and destroy their business and personal reputations," the new complaint alleges.
The lawsuit was filed the same day that a U.S. district court judge in South Carolina
The three former Certus executives -- Milton Jones, Walter Davis and Angela Webb -- were
The executives claim that all the expenses, as well as the payments to the consulting firm, were approved by Certus' board.
In their latest lawsuit, the executives allege that Weinger and his fund leaked "internal bank information to the American Banker, knowing full well that their toxic accusations of halftruths, misstatements and lies would damage and undermine the plaintiffs' ability to lead the bank into the future."
The first defamation lawsuit accused Certus' board and Weinger of engaging in a racist conspiracy against the defendants. Certus denied the claims in that lawsuit, arguing that the executives were fired for poor performance and that most of the directors who voted for the firings are African-Americans, as are the three founders.
The judge tossed out that case after determining that it did not meet the criteria to be heard in a federal court. It was dismissed without prejudice, which means that it can be re-filed in another court.
