South Florida Business Journal - 4:23 PM EST Wednesday
by Jim Freer
Two federal regulators and Florida's banking regulator on Dec. 27 said they have assessed an $800,000 civil money penalty against Beach Bank for alleged violations of anti-money laundering laws.
The regulators' order said Miami Beach-based Beach and its affiliated liquidating trust agreed to a stipulation and consent order and the fine without admitting or denying violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.
Beach and its trust are to pay $400,000 to the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) and an equal amount to the U.S. Treasury. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) joined the OFR in issuing the order.
The regulators fined Beach for violations the FDIC and OFR cited in a 2004 cease and desist order against the bank. The actions included late filing of suspicious activity reports.
The fine was related to "matters that took place more than two years ago" and not for activities since the C&D, said Michael Kosnitzky, the bank's chairman and a partner in the Miami office of law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner.
The regulators announced the fine and new order the same day shareholders of Boca Raton-based Sun American Bancorp (AMEX: SBK) approved the purchase of most of Beach's assets. Sun American is not purchasing Beach's charter and will not be subject to any actions regulators have taken or will take against Beach.
Sun American is paying $20 million in stock and $1 million in cash to Beach's liquidating trust. The trust is to use proceeds to pay the fine.
The fine against Beach will not prevent Sun American from acquiring Beach's assets and taking over operations of its two offices on Dec. 29, said Linda Charity, director of the OFR's division of financial institutions.
Sun American plans to put its signs on Beach's offices in January, said Michael Golden, Sun American's CEO.
South Florida Business Journal - December 27, 2006
http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2006/12/25/daily11.html
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