Another ANB Suit

Yet another lawsuit in the slowly unfolding aftermath of the failure of ANB Financial NA of Bentonville:

On Sept. 30 Kenneth Charlie Thomas filed a suit against Dan Dykema, Charles “Sandy” Brannon and Brannon Investments in the Circuit Court of Benton County. Dykema, of course, is the former chairman and CEO of ANB Bancshares Inc. and Brannon was a board member.

In the suit, Thomas claims he established a credit relationship with ANB in 2005 to purchase and sell classic cars. That relationship “culminated in joint enterprises for the purchase and sale of classic cars through the Plantiff and the sharing of expenses and profits.” The suit states that Dykema and Brannon told Thomas when to buy, sell and what and for how much.

For those who don’t know, Brannon has a penchant for rare model Corvettes, rebuilding them by hand and Dykema has been know to enjoy riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

The suit states that after May 9, the date ANB failed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. called the outstanding obligation, which he could not pay, and was therefore forced out of business.

Basically, Thomas’ claim is that Brannon and Dykema knew the bank was facing impending doom, but encouraged him to extend his credit, using their business relationship as leverage.

The suit sounds similar to other suits we’ve read about ANB, but we’re not sure the “they didn’t tell me the bank was in trouble” claim has any legs — we were actively writing about ANB’s problems a year before it’s failure.

We’re still unsure what Thomas’ connection to C&S Classic Cars Inc. is. Both have used the same address — 3855 Elm Springs Rd. in Springdale — but a man that answered that phone said Thomas lived in Oklahoma.