Financial General Bankshares was a bank holding company that became a target of acquisition by the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]].[^1] ### Acquisition Attempts and BCCI Involvement In February 1978, BCCI orchestrated a hostile bid for Financial General Bankshares with the help of [[Bert Lance]].[^1] Financial General, in turn, sued Lance, [[Agha Hasan Abedi]], BCCI, and the Arab investors for making an illegal attempt to take over the bank.[^1] The [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] later filed suit against BCCI, Abedi, Lance, and others in connection with the purchase of Financial General Bankshares stock.[^1] [[Clark Clifford]] and [[Robert Altman]] were retained as counsel by Abedi, BCCI, and the front men to handle the Financial General suit and serve as principal liaisons with the shareholders and regulators.[^2] In August 1981, regulators approved the sale of Financial General to Middle Eastern investors connected with BCCI, based on Clifford's assurances that there would be no link between BCCI and Financial General Bankshares.[^1] BCCI secretly acquired control of Financial General Bankshares through nominees, including [[Kamal Adham]], [[Faisal Saud al-Fulaij]], and [[Abdullah Darwaish]].[^3] These front men bought up nearly 20 percent of Financial General's stock, violating the law by failing to declare that they were acting as a group.[^3] ### Legal and Regulatory Scrutiny The acquisition attempts led to lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny, highlighting BCCI's use of front men and illicit financial practices to gain control of American banking institutions.[^3] The [[Federal Reserve Board]] later fined BCCI $200 million for illegally acquiring control of three prominent U.S. banking institutions, including Financial General Bankshares.[^1] ## Footnotes [^1]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 12-14. [^2]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 191. [^3]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 183.