Vernon Hill, the former chairman of British retail lender Metro Bank, is asking a federal court to block a move by his board opponents to oust him as chairman of a US bank called Republic First Bancorp.
The row with the Philadelphia-based bank marks the third time in the brash financial services entrepreneur’s nearly half-century career that he’s been pressured to leave a lender he once ran.
Hill was fired in 2007 from Commerce Bancorp in the United States after an investigation by a federal regulator into his dealings with related parties, including real estate transactions involving him and those close to him.
In 2010 he established Metro Bank, the first major bank to launch in the UK in over a century. He stepped down as chairman of Metro in 2019, months after revealing a reporting error that forced him to raise new capital and triggered regulatory investigations.
The current battle pits Hill against powerful adversaries — ranging from an associate of hedge fund chief Steven Cohen to George Norcross, a legendary Democratic Party kingmaker in southern New Jersey, just across the Delaware River. from Philadelphia. Some were once his allies.
Hill, 76, became chairman of Republic First’s board of directors in 2016 and chief executive in 2021. Hill was ousted as chairman on Friday, two days after the death of one of his allies on the board administration gave an opposing faction the majority they needed to strip them of the title. .
His lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, alleged his opponents on the board were planning a vote to fire him as chief executive on Wednesday afternoon. He and allied trustees asked a federal judge for a restraining order preventing the board from calling meetings until a court could consider whether his replacement as president had been legally appointed.
A summary of the legal complaint claimed that the opposing faction of the board wanted to kick Hill out “and take control of the company, so they could sell it off at any price.”
Michael Swartz, a lawyer representing the anti-Hill administrators, said: ‘The complaint is full of outrageous allegations, which we look forward to rebutting in due course.
Opponents of Hill’s board include Andrew Cohen, chief investment officer of Steven Cohen’s Point72 hedge fund and family office Cohen Private Ventures. Andrew Cohen, who once called Hill a “visionary” in retail banking, is named in Hill’s lawsuit.
A group led by Norcross, a major investor in the bank, said on Tuesday it had dropped two lawsuits filed against Republic First in the battle with Hill, saying it supported new board leadership.
Opposition to Hill objected to spending at new branches and raised concerns about business practices, including a down payment to pay Hill’s wife for architectural and interior design work for the bank.
“He’s absolutely in love with a business model that doesn’t work,” said Abbott Cooper, managing partner of Driver Management, another Republic First investor who had campaigned against Hill’s leadership.
Hill lost his majority on the board when director Ted Flocco died May 11. His opponents named Harry Madonna, who founded Republic Bank and had been chairman of the parent company until 2016 and chief executive until 2021, as interim chairman.
A representative for the bank responded to a request for comment with a copy of Hill’s lawsuit.
