P.M. BRIEFING : Fla. Tries to Remove S&L; Chief
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — State Comptroller Gerald Lewis today began legal action to remove David L. Paul as chairman of CenTrust Bank of Miami, claiming Paul has used Florida’s largest savings and loan to support his “opulent life style.”
Lewis filed an administrative complaint that seeks removal of Paul as chairman of the thrift. Paul has 21 days to either contest the complaint through a state hearing or comply with it.
“Paul maintained an opulent life style largely at the expense of the association and generally treated a federally insured financial institution and public company as it if were his own public piggy bank,” Lewis said in the complaint.
The complaint was filed 11 days after federal regulators, also citing CenTrust’s lavish spending practices, ordered the institution to stop squandering its assets on fine art, sailboats, excessive executive salaries and other personal expenses.
Terence McElroy, spokesman for the comptroller’s office, said the action today was highly unusual.
“But it’s a fairly unusual institution,” McElroy said.
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