WASHINGTON - Federal regulators have fined the former Chief Executive Officer of the now defunct First Place Bank $50,000 for what they call reckless, unsafe and unsound practices when he was an officer of the Warren based institution between 2008 and 2012.

Until he was fired in 2012, Steven Lewis had been the CEO of First Place Bank since 1997.

First Place filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in 2012, and was absorbed by Talmer Bank.

A consent order issued by the Department of Treasury Office of the Comptroller of the Currency late last month, says that when Lewis was First Place CEO, he failed to ensure that the bank properly identified and accounted for problem assets and troubled debt restructurings, failed to accurately report the bank's income and capital, and failed to ensure and adequate allowance for loan and lease losses balance.

According to the order, Lewis' actions caused First Place to file inaccurate thrift financial reports over a four year period and caused the bank to incur substantial expenses to restate its financials and correct its misstated books and records.

The Office of the Comptroller found that Lewis took part in restructuring a cash-out refinance mortgage loan to a troubled borrower of the Bank, who was a partner in Lewis' outside business.
 

The Order alleges that in addition to using bank resources for his personal use, Lewis failed to timely disclose to the Board a $9.8 million judgment against him and a troubled borrower of the Bank.

Regulators concluded that Lewis “engaged in reckless unsafe or unsound practices, and breached his fiduciary duty to the Bank; which violations, practices, or breaches were part of a pattern of misconduct, and caused loss to the Bank.”

The order specifically states that although Lewis neither admits to, nor denies the violations, he has agreed to pay total civil penalty of $50,000.

Lewis is being allowed to pay the penalty on a schedule. The entire amount must be paid by August of next year.

Lewis first came under fire for failing to file required financial reports for three consecutive years.

First Place Bank's stock was de-listed from the NASDAQ exchange in 2011, just months after the government ordered it to stop paying dividends and cease from taking any more debt.

The bank's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing came in November, 2012, accompanied by an announcement that it had been sold to to the to Michigan-based holding company Talmer Bankcorp, Inc. for $45 million.