Allan Hutensky v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

82 F.3d 1234, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 9658
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedApril 19, 1996
Docket803, Docket 95-4087
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 82 F.3d 1234 (Allan Hutensky v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allan Hutensky v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 82 F.3d 1234, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 9658 (2d Cir. 1996).

Opinion

MINER, Circuit Judge:

Allan Hutensky petitions for review of a Decision and Order of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) prohibiting him, pursuant to 12 U.S.C. § 1818(e), from further participation in the conduct of the affairs of any insured depository institution. The FDIC found that Hutensky violated Regulation 0, 12 C.F.R. § 215, breached his fiduciary duties, and engaged in unsafe and unsound practices, as a result of his conduct in relation to three transactions: two bank loans in which the proceeds were transferred to his business interests and the modification of a line of credit for his business interest. For the reasons that follow, we grant the petition in part and remand to the FDIC for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

Hutensky is an attorney and businessman. He has participated in numerous partnerships and ventures in the State of Connecticut, and has been particularly active in the development of real estate. Hutensky claims that he “was involved in excess of a billion dollars worth of real estate and financial transactions” as of 1988. In order to finance these ventures, Hutensky had total borrowings of approximately two to three hundred million dollars.

Beginning in April of 1989, Hutensky served as a director of Cenvest, Inc. (“Cen-vest”). Cenvest was the holding company for Central Bank (“Central”) and First Central Bank (“First Central”). Cenvest, Central, and First Central all were located in Connecticut, and Central and First Central were insured State nonmember banks. 1 In April of 1989, Hiitensky also became a director of First Central. In addition, Hutensky joined the Joint Loan and Investment Committee of the Cenvest companies, and he became chairman of that committee in May of 1990. Although Hutensky never became a director of Central, he attended joint meetings of the boards of directors of Central and Cenvest.

I. The Harding Loan

One of Hutensky’s business projects was CityPlace Venture (“CityPlace”). Hutensky, along with Richard Bronson and Preston Harding, were partners in a limited partnership that held a 99% interest in CityPlace. Harding had been a business associate of Hutensky for many years.

In 1989, CityPlace began to incur monthly shortfalls, which were covered by another Hutensky entity, Bronson & Hutensky (“B & H”). By the summer of 1989, B & H had contributed approximately $600,000 to City-Place to meet the operating expenses of City-Place property in Hartford, Connecticut. Hutensky and his partners in CityPlace attempted to refinance the Hartford property with Suffield Bank, which held a mortgage on the property, but the bank refused their request. CityPlace apparently was unable to borrow money from other sources. Huten-sky stated that “we didn’t think that we had an ability to go out and raise that kind of money.”

On August 21, 1989, First Central granted a loan to Harding in the amount of $1,050,-000. On the same day, Harding made a loan to CityPlace in the same amount. CityPlace then wrote a check dated August 28, 1989 in the sum of $1,000,000 payable to B & H. Although Hutensky was a director of First Central, he did not notify the board of directors of First Central that the proceeds of the Harding loan would be transferred to CityPlace and B & H, and he did not seek prior approval for the loan.

The Harding loan has not been repaid. Hutensky and the FDIC stipulated that the Harding loan would result in a loss of *1237 $1,049,480.10 to the FDIC, as Receiver for Central. 2

II. The Reveruzzi Loan

In 1990, John Reveruzzi worked for B & H as an executive vice president. His duties primarily consisted of marketing and obtaining financing for B & H ventures. Reveruzzi also became a partner in several B & H projects.

In the summer of 1990, several B & H ventures, including ones in which Reveruzzi held an interest, were having cash flow problems. On July 30, 1990, Central granted a loan to Reveruzzi in the amount of $500,000. On the same day, Reveruzzi made a loan to B & H in the same amount. Hutensky did not notify the board of directors of Central that the proceeds of the Reveruzzi loan would be transferred to B & H, and he did not seek prior approval for the loan.

The Reveruzzi loan has not been repaid. Hutensky and the FDIC stipulated that the Reveruzzi loan would result in a loss of approximately $439,469.48 to the FDIC, as Receiver for Central.

III. Modification of the B & H Line of Credit

Prior to April of 1990, Hutensky and Bronson each had $2.5 million of outstanding personal unsecured credit from Central. On April 23, 1990, the board of directors of Central approved a $9.5 million line of credit for B & H. The line of credit was secured by B & H’s 12.5% ownership interest in a shopping mall known as the Pavilions at Buekland Hills in Manchester, Connecticut (the “Mall”). 3 The purpose of the line of credit was to secure $3.5 million of the existing $5 million unsecured debt and to provide $6 million as working capital for B & H projects.

In May of 1990, Connecticut State banking authorities began an investigation into whether the line of credit to B & H violated state lending limits. The banking authorities later notified Central of three “apparent violations” of federal and state banking laws and regulations.

By August of 1990, $5.7 million of the $9.5 million line of credit had been advanced by Central and was outstanding. On August 27, 1990, at a joint board meeting of Central and Cenvest, Hutensky presented a proposal to restructure the debt obligations of B & H to Central. According to Hutensky’s proposal, Central would release its security interest in the Mall, and B & H would sell this interest. B & H then would pay Central $2.2 million of the sale proceeds to reduce the outstanding debt to $3.5 million.

Hutensky acknowledges that he participated in a discussion with the Central board concerning the proposed modification of the line of credit. He stated:

There was a lengthy discussion of what it was we were trying to do, and I, no question, participated in that discussion and explained it, because most of the people on the board really didn’t have a clear understanding as to what they did in April and what the obligations of the bank were and what the proposal was.

Following this discussion, Hutensky was asked to leave the room.

After the board engaged in further discussion, it requested that Hutensky prepare a written summary of his proposal. In the written summary, Hutensky stated that B & H is “in the process of selling [its] interest in the partnership presently held as collateral.

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Michael v. Federal Deposit Insurance
687 F.3d 337 (Seventh Circuit, 2012)

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Bluebook (online)
82 F.3d 1234, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 9658, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allan-hutensky-v-federal-deposit-insurance-corporation-ca2-1996.