Vista Bank Submits New Allegations Against FirstCapital Bank
A release by the Bustos Law Firm says Vista Bank filed a motion on Thursday to amend its complaint to add factual allegations against FirstCapital Bank, who allegedly sealed the demise of Reagor-Dykes.
Vista sued FirstCapital last year shortly after Reagor-Dykes filed for bankruptcy.
Vista Bank initially brought fraud claims against FirstCapital but is now seeking to drop them. They also claimed that FirstCapital inappropriately shifted more than $6 million of loss onto Vista by manipulating the federal check clearing system.
FirstCapital allegedly demanded over $7 million in extra collateral from Reagor and Dykes after being informed in July of the impeding bankruptcy and promised to provide $2.1 million to Reagor Auto Mall in additional financing. The additional funding was an attempt to save Reagor-Dykes from financial ruin and to preserve jobs.
However, FirstCapital was instructed by counsel for Reagor Auto Mall to not fund the additional money. FirstCapital honored the request, and thus sealed the fate of Reagor-Dykes and ensuring that other creditors, like Vista, would be deprived of recovering damages.
The Bustos release says that "Recent documents also reveal that within days of Reagor-Dykes filing for bankruptcy, FirstCapital gave Bart Reagor and Shane Smith, the former Reagor-Dykes Auto Group CFO, millions of dollars in home equity financing, despite the fact that the Reagor-Dykes empire had just imploded - leaving bystanders to question the motive for the financing, given no foreseeable path to recoup either loan and the potential equal housing lending violations if others would not have been afforded the same opportunity."
In a statement from FirstCapital regarding Vista's amended filing, they claim that "None of this is new information to Vista Bank and Vista Bank has known the details of all of this since early August from the depositions taken early in the bankruptcy proceeding. Notwithstanding this knowledge, Vista Bank distorts the facts in a desperate attempt to keep alive a failing lawsuit against FirstCapital."