OCC Fines Houston Banker and Seeks Prohibition from Banking; Hearing in March

WASHINGTON, DC — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today announced that it is seeking a $250,000 civil money penalty against Charles R. Vickery, Jr. and a ban against his further participation in the affairs of any federally insured financial institution.

The OCC alleges that in 1991, while he was the senior chairman of the board of directors of First National Bank of Bellaire, Texas, Vickery breached his duty to the bank by directing it to make a series of loans to Houston real estate developer Jerry J. Moore and diverting about $53,000 of title insurance premiums paid by Moore on those loans for his personal use. The loans caused the bank to violate federal lending limit rules and resulted in unsafe and unsound credit concentration, causing the OCC to impose a cease and desist order on the bank in 1994.

The OCC alleges the title insurance premiums were funneled to Vickery through P. B. Dover, Jr., a Deer Park, Texas lawyer, who submitted claims to Commonwealth Title Company of Houston for a portion of the premiums paid to Commonwealth by Jerry J. Moore and then delivered the funds to Vickery.

Vickery, a retired lawyer, is currently a major shareholder at the First National Bank of Bellaire, as well as several other Houston area banks, including Texas National Bank of Baytown, Texas, Mayde Creek Bank in Katy, Texas, Texas Coastal Bank in Pasadena, Texas, and First Bank of Deer Park, Texas.

A public hearing on the OCC's charges against Vickery will be held in Houston in March.