A former Tennessee Commerce Bank executive filed a complaint in Tennessee federal court on Wednesday, saying he was wrongly fired after questioning the bank's operations earlier this year.
George W. Fort, the bank's former chief financial officer, said in the nine months before his termination in May, he raised concerns about the internal controls of the bank, including accusing the bank of writing fraudulent committee meeting minutes over two-and-a-half years.
Tennessee Commerce Bank said Fort's complaint was "without merit" and declined to comment further.
Fort's lawsuit contends that many of his concerns of policy violations were echoed by a January report by the bank's internal auditors. Fort said he made repeated requests in 2007 to executives, including the bank's CEO, to stop violating the bank's procedures and policies, but he said the appeals were ignored.
On Feb. 15, Fort said he made a PowerPoint presentation to the bank's auditing committee about his concerns, including the inactivity of the bank's asset liability committee and what he said were false meeting minutes for that committee given to the board, auditors and bank regulators, according to the lawsuit.
During February and March, Fort said three executives in a series of meetings tried to intimidate him into dropping his complaints, the documents said. On March 6, Fort presented his PowerPoint presentation to the FDIC and was removed the next day, saying he was advised he was on "administrative leave" and not to contact the bank's personnel until further notice.
Fort filed a complaint in April with the U.S. Department of Labor over adverse employment action. His federal lawsuit states he would like to be reinstated to his former position and to be paid damages.
Bank avoided delistingLast year, the bank was threatened with delisting from the Nasdaq but made changes to address concerns by the exchange that it violated rules regarding compensation and disclosure.
The bank said it restructured its nominating and compensation committees last July at the same time its full board voted to raise executive salaries an average of 118 percent. The company had just completed a second quarter with record profits of $1.6 million.
Three board members — Fowler Low, Winston Hickman and Regg Swanson — resigned at the time, citing disagreements over the pay raises.
The bank recently topped $1 billion in assets. Its stock has lost almost 40 percent of its value in the last year. It closed at $14.95 per share, down 30 cents, in Nasdaq trading on Wednesday.
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