Bank Tied to Black Friday Shut Down

On Friday, the Utah Department of Financial Institutions shut down SunFirst Bank in St. George, UT and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver.  SunFirst was co-owned by John Campos, one of the men indicted in the Black Friday indictments.

The bank reopened on Saturday under the name of Cache Valley Bank after they entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Cache Valley Bank.  CVB will assume most of SunFirst’s deposits save $15 Million that was already frozen prior to the bank being shut down.

If you remember from the Black Friday indictments, SunFirst Bank was involved in transparent processing of online poker payments totaling over $200 Million.  In addition to fees charged to the online poker companies for their services, the bank received a $10 Million investment and Campos received a $20,000 bonus.

The Black Friday indictments were not the only legal matters facing SunFirst.  The FDIC had at one point ordered the bank to stop processing funds for Jeremy Johnson, a St. George businessman that the FTC had sued for scamming consumers for a total of $289 Million. He had lured customers into signing up for trial memberships for “government-grant” and other money-making schemes.  The customers were then charged for other memberships they did not sign up for.

Apparently, it was Johnson that introduced Chad Elie to Campos at the beginning of their business relationship.  Johnson was not named in the Black Friday indictments.  The FDIC is currently holding the $15 Million in frozen accounts pending legislation.

SunFirst had around $198 Million in loans and around $169 Million in deposits as of the end of September.