Umpqua Bank, FDIC, DFI, SEC and IRS Investigation of Ed Brooks - President and CEO of Sunset Pacific General Contractors, Inc.

"" This information is to bring light issues of a group of individuals.

In particular, Ed Brooks, ex-Chairman of the Board of Rainer Pacific Financial Group, Inc., and President and CEO of Sunset Pacific General Contractors, Inc.

The FDIC closed Rainier Pacific Bank in March of 2010.

Through basic searches, Mr. Brooks is involved behind the scenes in numerous other companies in Washington State, Canada and throughout the West Coast.

Mr. Brooks has ownership and/or investments into numerous properties in the Pacific Northwest. Upon personal experience, the initial business dealings with Mr. Brooks and his partners look very encouraging and promising.

He touts himself as a successful businessperson with an unblemished record, as well as being the Chairman of a Board of a local, solvent bank.

It is not until the business deal is signed and sealed does one finally realize that the public image Mr. Brooks and his partners portray is not at all the reality of their business dealings and actions.

Mr. Brooks has had a pattern of over 20 + years of intimidation and misdealing with the public, private and financial banking sectors.

This involves everything from legal intimidation, harassment, extortion, financial fraud, and intent to defraud investors, breach of his fiduciary responsibility, tax evasion, witness tampering, bribery, coercion and a possible Ponzi scheme.

Majority of these actions have taken place while Mr. Brooks was the acting Chairman of the Board of Rainier Pacific Bank in direct violation of his fiduciary duties and requirements as dictated by the FDIC and DFI of Washington State.

I am aware that this may seem an exhaustive list of claims but all can be substantiated by documents. These documents only came to be in our possession through a subpoena of Rainier Pacific / Umpqua Bank records regarding only one of the loans that Mr. Brooks has that my legal counsel received through litigation discovery regarding a construction dispute.

However, you would find that the documents will lead you to the same conclusions as we have found. Moreover, we have exhausted our resources that we have available to us and only further investigation beyond what a civilian can do is what is needed.

Some of the key facts:

· Misrepresentation of financial status to the bank.

Mr. Brooks directly misrepresented to Rainier Pacific his financial status and assets to obtain loans and extensions of credit even as he was the Officer of the Bank he was receiving loans from.

· Misrepresentation of financial status to an officer of the court.

On direct communication to Rainer Pacific Bank about Mr. Brooks’ funding on the project, Mr. Brooks and Rainer Pacific directly stated his funding was solid and there were no issues with it. Fact is, Mr. Brooks had lost funding prior to that conversation and had not yet been extended credit.

· 80 + lawsuits Mr. Brooks has been a party to.

Mr. Brooks and/or partners since the 1980’s have been involved with over 80 + legal suits where they have been the defendant in the lawsuit.

· A list of over 40+ mechanical liens against his companies.

Mr. Brooks and his company Sunset Pacific General Contractors have incurred 45 mechanics liens against it directly due to stalling tactics. None of these lawsuits or liens has ever showed up on the Washington State Labor and Industries record as is routine.

· Numerous businesses he has ownership in but un-reported.

Mr. Brooks has been and currently is involved with several companies behind the scenes that their assets and profits go unreported on his taxes.

· Banking improprieties.

On several occasions, Mr. Brooks was able to obtain extensions to his loan even after direct statements from Rainier Pacific that they wished his loan be taken elsewhere.

These statements were made by the loan processing staff only to be overruled by management and officers to have Mr. Brooks’ loan approved.

This is a direct breach of FDIC guidelines of loans to officers.

· Breach of his fiduciary responsibilities to the FDIC.

As the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Brooks was required by the FDIC to maintain safe and sound business practices and to maintain himself with personal candor. He was also prohibited from advancing his own personal or business interests, or those of others, at the expense of the bank. Yet, Mr. Brooks own records show he placed himself above the bank when it came to his personal loans helped contributed to the collapse of Rainer Pacific and seizure by the FDIC.

· Financial records and document destruction or mishandling.

Rainer Pacific Bank’s either failure to provide all financial documents and records concerning the loan or willful destruction of financial documents and records by its employees and management to cover the misconduct of its Chairman of the Board, Ed Brooks.

· Rainer Pacific Bank breach of its FDIC duties under direct Rules and Regulations.

Rainer Pacific Banks breach of its duties under the FDIC regulation of loans to Officers of the Bank. Ed Brooks’ loan, for the project that is currently in litigation dispute, exceed the unimpaired capital of the bank in direct violation of the FDIC regulatory rules. Rainer Pacific Bank was in a negative state during extensions of Mr. Brook’s loan.

· Rainer Pacific Banks breach of a direct FDIC Regulatory Order.

Breach of the FDIC regulatory order of September 8th 2009, classifying the bank as under capitalized. Yet after this Regulatory action, it still extended credit to Ed Brooks in direct violation.

· Excessive spending during legal proceedings.

A standard defense practice of Mr. Brooks and his legal counsel is to excessively outspend his opponents.

They are usually outspent to such an extreme that they are unable to properly pursue a case against him.

This consistently ends up with a Default or Summary Judgment against the Plaintiffs in these lawsuits even though they have valid claims against Mr. Brooks. This in turn, preserves the image of Mr. Brooks’ good standing in the business community and does not tarnish his image.

· Unreported Income

In 2008, Mr. Brooks claimed to have an adjusted gross income of $84,000 with over $1,300,000 in liquid assets in his accounts according to financial records.

Yet the public stated salary from Rainer Pacific was over $100,000 alone. This does not include all dividends, stock options, property income or other businesses like Sunset Pacific General Contractors Inc.

· Assets in excess of means.

Mr. Brooks additionally reports assets in access of $12,000,000 with no direct cause or means to accumulate these assets at any point in time.

· Tax evasion

The IRS tax information provided to Rainier Pacific by Mr. Brooks on the loan extension in June of 2009, states he only had an income of $84,000.

Noticeably absent was any statement of any other income, dividend earnings or profits from any other businesses he is involved in. Mr. Brooks is failing to report his assets truthfully to the IRS as is required by the bank to report on the application.

Additionally, Mr. Brooks has won numerous awards on Summary and Default Judgments he was the defendant on. These amounts do not show up in his financial records.

I can go on further and expand a great deal more but these are the main key facts about Mr. Brooks and his activity.

These actions go well beyond aggressive business tactics and they are certainly not safe and sound financial dealings as someone who once held a position as Chairman of the Board of a bank. ""

Got a Tip on any of This
Crystal L. Cox
Investigative Blogger
Crystal@CrystalCox.com