FDIC sues Orion directors

The aftershocks of Naples-based Orion Bank's spectacular collapse in 2009 continue as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is now targeting the bank's former directors.

In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Jan. 29, the FDIC alleges that former bank directors James Aultman of Marathon Beach, Earl Holland of Fort Myers, Alan Pratt of Vero Beach and Brian Schmitt of Marathon allowed Chairman and CEO Jerry Williams to drive the bank into failure.

Orion failed on Nov. 13, 2009, with more than $2.3 billion in assets after its commercial real estate and development loans soured. The FDIC says it suffered a loss of about $880 million and it is now seeking to recover damages in excess of $53 million.

Before it collapsed, Orion was the second-largest bank on the Gulf Coast from Tampa to Naples.

Last year, a federal judge sentenced Williams to six years in federal prison for fraudulently trying to raise capital by falsifying bank records as the bank was failing. The judge also ordered Williams to pay $31 million in restitution to the FDIC.