With the recent uptick in federal efforts to pursue financial penalties against officials of failed Georgia banks, Tod Sawicki has been quoted in multiple stories in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, defending officials who government prosecutors allege brought damage to their institutions through recklessness.
Sawicki argued that the FDIC has often made aggressive claims and painted the defendants with a broad brush. Noting that his clients are respectable men and women who worked hard to make their banks successful, he said, “[Their banks] failed for reasons far beyond what they could control.”
He pointed out that regulators themselves were often slow to react to the oncoming fiscal crisis, with bankers being highly rated for their performance in boom years, only to be criticized for the same practices when the economy turned.
“This is the latest example [of] the FDIC trying to blame small-town community banks for the financial crisis,” Sawicki said. “[My clients] acted reasonably and in good faith.”
“We will demonstrate that each of them fulfilled their responsibility to the bank and they are not liable for any losses arising from the banks’ failure,” he stated.
Sawicki argued that the FDIC has often made aggressive claims and painted the defendants with a broad brush. Noting that his clients are respectable men and women who worked hard to make their banks successful, he said, “[Their banks] failed for reasons far beyond what they could control.”
He pointed out that regulators themselves were often slow to react to the oncoming fiscal crisis, with bankers being highly rated for their performance in boom years, only to be criticized for the same practices when the economy turned.
“This is the latest example [of] the FDIC trying to blame small-town community banks for the financial crisis,” Sawicki said. “[My clients] acted reasonably and in good faith.”
“We will demonstrate that each of them fulfilled their responsibility to the bank and they are not liable for any losses arising from the banks’ failure,” he stated.