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Rh of the Entities’ loans current. That agreement stabilized the Nielson lending relationship for the following year. But on September 1, 2010, the Entities again stopped making their loan payments. Another short-term agreement was reached, allowing the Entities to continue servicing their debt for the next few months. But in January 2011, the Entities once more stopped making their loan payments. They have remained in default ever since.

On April 13, 2012, the FDIC opened an investigation into the Bank’s officers for their role in the Nielson matter. The investigation concluded on August 20, 2013, at which time the agency issued a notice of intention to remove petitioner as well as two other Bank executives from office, and to prohibit them from further participation in the banking industry. The agency also issued a notice of assessment of civil penalties. The bases for the proposed sanctions were the agency’s allegations that petitioner had, in violation of §1818(e), mishandled the Nielson Entities lending relationship in various ways: The Bedrock Transaction failed to comply with the Bank’s internal loan policy; the Bank’s board of directors was misled or misinformed of the nature of the Transaction; petitioner failed to respond accurately to FDIC inquiries about the Transaction; and the Transaction was misreported on the Bank’s financial statements.

On October 29, 2019, an FDIC Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) began a 7-day evidentiary hearing into petitioner’s conduct. Petitioner was among one of 12 witnesses who testified. On April 3, 2020, the ALJ issued his written decision, recommending that petitioner be barred from the banking industry and be assessed a $125,000 civil penalty based on his mishandling of the Nielson Loan relationship. Petitioner appealed the ALJ’s decision to the FDIC Board.

The FDIC Board began its review by determining, first, whether petitioner had engaged in an unsafe or unsound banking practice. Such a practice, according to the Board, “is one that is ‘contrary to generally accepted standards of