Brittany Savings defended their institutions' operations Thursday over allegations of fraud made by Brittany investors.

Representatives of Security Savings Bank and the corporation that owns the bank, Brittany Savings, defended their institutions' operations Thursday over allegations of fraud made by Brittany investors. "The allegations from the Mabe family are false, and we intend to vigorously defend them. And that's the position of Brittany Savings Corporation," said Frank Bell, Brittany's president. Bell is the son of Donald H. Bell Sr., who is on the board of Brittany and is board chairman of Security Savings Bank. Donald Bell is at the center of allegations by the Mabe family of Olathe. The Mabes allege in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that they were misled into investing more than $933,000 in stock in Brittany Savings when Donald Bell knew Brittany could not continue to maintain the high investment returns he promised, because of the financial condition of Security Savings Bank. Brittany is a holding company for Security Savings Bank. Security Savings Bank is not a defendant in the lawsuit. The bank has three branches in Salina. On Thursday, Security Savings Bank's president and chief executive officer, Mike Copeland, said that the bank has a level of working financial capital greater than that called for by regulatory guidelines. As to one of the lawsuit's allegations that the bank made loans outside its territory, so do other lenders, Copeland said. "That's not out of the ordinary in the course of banking," said Copeland, who is also Olathe's mayor. "Typically our main focus is investing in the three communities where we have a market presence. That's where our deposits come from and that's where the bulk of our loans go to."
The bank reported a $2.4 million loss in the second quarter of this year. The loss followed a $3.4 million first-quarter profit that came about through the sale of three branches in western Kansas. Frank Bell said Thursday that information he's received is that the bank broke even in August and has since been making a profit.
He said the bank was able to resolve "some of the troubled loans we had to reserve money for." The suit alleges that Donald Bell sought to raise money for Security Savings Bank by selling stock in Brittany because Bell knew problematic loans posed trouble for the bank. The Mabes are seeking to recover the amount they paid for Brittany stock, minus dividends or profits, plus losses from the loans assumed by the Mabes to buy the stock. Their suit also asks for damages to be determined through the court, attorneys fees and costs of the suit, plus interest.