FDIC orders former New Frontier Bank directors to pay $350,000 in fines

GREELEY — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday announced that four people involved in the 2009 collapse of Greeley’s New Frontier Bank have been ordered to pay a total of $350,000.

In March, the FDIC revealed documents indicating that Larry Seastrom, Bob Brunner, Tim Thissen and John Kammeier — all directors of the bank — collectively would pay $545,000 in penalties for infractions on how the institution was run. Seastrom and Brunner were told they would each owe $175,000. Thissen would need to pay $125,000, and Kammeier $70,000.

Friday, the FDIC released its September enforcement actions that said Brunner must pay $150,000; Kammeier 70,000; and Seastrom and Thissen $50,000 each.

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FDIC spokeswoman LuJuan Williams-Young said the initial amount released in March was a preliminary number, and that Friday the FDIC ordered them to pay the revised amounts following closer examination of the infractions.

New Frontier failed on April 10, 2009, and came crashing down on borrowers, even the ones who were current on their loans. The FDIC sold the loans for pennies on the dollar. In many cases, the new note-holders called in their loans, forcing many borrowers into bankruptcy. The ordeal cost the FDIC $1 billion.

In 2013, former bank vice president and chief loan officer Gregory Bell was convicted of bank fraud and sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution.

With almost $2 billion in assets, New Frontier at the time was the largest bank in Greeley and Northern Colorado.