Six prohibition orders issued by national bank regulator, along with agreements with two banks over ‘unsafe, unsound practices’

Six prohibition orders were issued by the national bank regulator so far in February, the agency said Thursday.

Formal agreements were also reached with both Michigan and Connecticut banks, both the result of “unsafe or unsound purposes,” the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said.

The prohibition orders issued included those against:

• Max M. Bender, a former operations processor at a Cincinnati, Ohio, location of U.S. Bank, N.A., Cincinnati, for misappropriating funds from commercial customer deposits, resulting in a loss of at least $23,000 to the bank.
• Justin Cooper, a former Bank Teller at a Ramsey, New Jersey, branch of TD Bank, N.A., Wilmington, Del., for accessing customer records without authorization and providing customer information to a third party in exchange for money.
• Larry DeWitt, a former chief credit officer and lending officer at BancCentral, N.A., Alva, Okla., for, among other things, failing to secure cash collateral required for certain new market tax credit loans, which caused the bank to violate its legal lending limit, and failing to inform the bank of a customer’s impending withdrawal of millions of dollars on deposit with the bank, which he encouraged, facilitated, and understood could severely impact the bank’s liquidity.
• Derek Heaton, a former chief lending officer at BancCentral, N.A., Alva, Okla., for failing to secure cash collateral required for certain new market tax credit loans, which caused the bank to violate its legal lending limit.
• Jackeline Graves, a former retail banker at a Port Arthur, Texas, branch of Woodforest National Bank, The Woodlands, Texas, for gaining unauthorized access to bank customers’ personal information and forging their names onto checks to steal at least $14,000.
• Mark Tillman, a former loan officer at Citizens Bank, N.A., Providence, R.I., for, among other things, making false statements and statements of omission to influence the bank’s mortgage lending decisions; failing to review, identify, and escalate red flags in mortgage loan applications or supporting information; and failing to fully disclose the involvement of a mortgage broker and the broker’s fees.

Meanwhile, the OCC said it reached formal agreements with both Dearborn FSB of Dearborn, Mich., and Patriot Bank, N.A., of Stamford, Conn., both for unsafe or unsound practices. In the case of the former, for those related to compliance management, fair lending risk management, insider activities, and compensation practices; and violations related to recordkeeping.

For the latter, for those related to strategic planning, capital planning, Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) risk management, payment activities oversight, credit administration, and concentration risk management.

OCC Announces Enforcement Actions for February 2025