A former Mississippi banker has been prohibited from serving at any federally insured financial institution after ignoring a directive three years ago not to accept a $120,000 personal commission as a real estate broker, the national bank regulator said Thursday.
Edward Langton, the former chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Grand Bank for Savings, Federal Savings Bank in Hattiesburg, Miss., consented to the prohibition, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said in releasing its enforcement actions for May.
Before he resigned from the bank in 2022, he had served in the top management and board position since 1990s, according to the OCC.
In its order, the OCC alleged Langton had violated conflict of interest requirements, engaged in unsafe or unsound practices, and breached his fiduciary duty when he received a personal commission of $120,000 for serving as a broker on a real estate transaction for the bank despite being directed not to do so.
According to the order, Langton was a licensed real estate broker in Mississippi and represented the bank in various real estate transactions. However, the OCC said that in 2022, Langton negotiated the purchase of a real estate parcel on the bank’s behalf. He then discussed his desire to receive a personal commission for this transaction with two directors. He was allegedly told, the OCC said, not to take a commission because he was receiving a salary from the bank.
The deal closed in September 2022, according to the agency, and Langton allegedly “caused the Bank to pay him a personal commission of $120,000 for this transaction.” Then, the OCC said, he “failed to disclose his intent to receive, and his receipt of, a personal commission on this real estate transaction to the Bank’s Board of Directors.”
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