FDIC investigating board members of failed Republic First Bancorp, shareholder lawyers allege in filing

Shareholder lawyers for an activist investor group allege in a recent bankruptcy court filing that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) is investigating former board members of failed Republic First Bancorp, but the FDIC itself has not publicly confirmed any such probe.​

What the filing alleges

• A Dec. 9 filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, submitted on behalf of the Norcross-Braca activist investor group, claims the FDIC is conducting an investigation into former directors and officers of Republic First Bancorp (parent of failed Republic First Bank).​

• The filing characterizes the bank’s leadership as having engaged in “gross management failures” and argues that regulators should hold former board members financially accountable for losses tied to the bank’s collapse.​

Status of any FDIC probe

• The allegation of an FDIC investigation currently rests on the shareholder group’s court filing; there has been no public enforcement action or detailed announcement from the FDIC naming individual former directors of Republic First Bancorp.​

• FDIC postmortem reviews have already faulted Republic First’s board and management for dysfunction and poor governance contributing to the bank’s April 2024 failure, which makes a formal directors‑and‑officers investigation plausible but not yet officially documented in public enforcement records.​

Background on the bank’s failure

• Pennsylvania regulators closed Philadelphia‑based Republic First Bank in April 2024, appointing the FDIC as receiver, and its deposits and most assets were sold to Fulton Bank.​

• An FDIC Office of Inspector General material‑loss review later concluded that board infighting, proxy battles, and leadership turnover left the bank poorly governed and ill‑prepared for changing market conditions, contributing directly to its failure.​

What shareholders are seeking

• The activist group and related shareholder actions aim to preserve or access insurance proceeds and potential recovery from former directors and officers, arguing that any settlement between Republic First’s estate and the FDIC must not foreclose shareholder derivative claims.​

• They also criticize the FDIC for allegedly failing to act sooner against Republic First’s leadership and urge the court to ensure that former board members can still be pursued for damages tied to the bank’s collapse.​