(A correction has been made to this article. See end for details.)
The U.S. Treasury Department purchased 344,577 shares of stock in One Bank & Trust at a sale conducted in Washington on Monday, the bank's CEO announced.
Jerry Pavlas, the CEO, gave no details of the sale in a release issued Monday afternoon, but the bill of sale filed in federal court put the sale price at $8 million.
As Arkansas Business reported last week, the Treasury had a potential credit bid of up to $47.9 million, which was the balance of a triple-damages judgement tied to a TARP funding fraud claim. The shares represent a majority ownership in the bank, which brands itself as Onebanc, where equity capital declined from $12 million as of Dec. 31 to $10.4 million on March 31.
Assets stood at $298.5 million at the end of the first quarter.
"The sale is another positive development for the Bank and no customers or vendors should be concerned by this latest step in the legal process," Pavlas said in a news release. "Nothing about the sale of this stock affects Onebanc's daily operations, employment or services to our customers or community.
"The sale was conducted in full cooperation with the U.S. Treasury and the Bank's regulators in order to provide absolute certainty to the Federal government's legal standing as the majority owner of the Bank. Resolving the issue of ownership released Onebanc from the burdens of the holding company liabilities and was critical to the Bank's recapitalization.
"The sale was necessary in bringing closure to the complex issues created by the fraudulent acts of former Onebanc owners, executives and senior management that were revealed during the change in management and the completion of the forensic accounting audit."
The former owner and CEO was Layton "Scooter" Stuart, who was removed from the management at the direction of the OCC before his death in March 2013. While Stuart owned 99 percent of the bank's stock, the Treasury did not purchase that much on Monday.
"Currently, the One Bank shares are owned by the Department of the Treasury and by three key executives," Pavlas said in a statement to Arkansas Business. "The key executives acquired share ownership through stock ownership programs acceptable to the banking regulators. The actual ownership percentages of these four stockholder [sic] are subject to a number of factors and circumstances, and actual ownership will not be finalized until the consummation of a recapitalization transaction. The Treasury's stock ownership, however, is a majority stake and is projected to be in the range of 65% to 80% at closing depending on the resolution of these various factors."
(Correction, May 9, 2017: The original story reported an incorrect ownership stake for the Treasury.)
