Carlos Loumiet's attorney called it a "professional death penalty case."
The penalty was erased Monday when U.S. Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan issued an 18-page order dropping all charges alleging that Loumiet helped conceal fraud at Miami-based Hamilton Bank before it collapsed seven years ago.
"As I have said all along, I did not engage in any misconduct nor did I breach my duty to my client," Loumiet said in a news release. "While the process has finally reached the correct and just conclusion, this has been a very trying ordeal for me and my family."
Dugan accepted a recommendation by Administrative Law Judge Ann Z. Cook to drop the regulatory charges. Dugan cited an insufficient case record and the exclusion of a key witness before he concluded there was insufficient evidence that "Loumiet's conduct caused the requisite harm to establish the 'effect' element necessary to hold him responsible."
Hamilton's failure cost taxpayers $127 million, and shareholders lost their investments.
Now a partner of the law firm Hunton & Williams in Miami, Loumiet was head of a Greenberg Traurig team advising Hamilton when it was taken over by the comptroller's office in 2002.
Greenberg agreed to pay $925,000 in penalties but admitted no fault in the case.
