Feds in Bank Fraud Case Drop All Charges Against Former Greenberg Partner

U.S. Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan issued an order Monday dropping all charges alleging that Carlos Loumiet helped conceal fraud at Miami-based Hamilton Bank before it collapsed seven years ago. Dugan cited an insufficient case record and the exclusion of a key witness before concluding there was insufficient evidence that "Loumiet's conduct caused the requisite harm to establish the 'effect' element necessary to hold him responsible."

John Pacenti

Daily Business Review

2009-07-29 12:00:00 AM

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.