In a motion filed in the U.S.district court in Puerto Rico, the six former Westernbank executives and directors argue that the FDIC is trying to hold them accountable for not adequately anticipating the recent financial crisis — which had a devastating effect on the bank — even though financial luminaries including FDIC senior officials have admitted that nobody could have reasonably foreseen such a meltdown.

"The FDIC has embarked on a quest to scapegoat the bank's officers and directors, whose lives have been as thoroughly turned upside down by this chain of events as any other investors or creditors," the motion claimed. 

The defendants are asking the court to either dismiss the complaint or require the FDIC to state a more definite claim against the six defendants, including former Westernbank Chairman and CEO Frank C. Stipes Garcia.

The Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico closed Westernbank on April 30, 2010, and the FDIC, which estimates it lost $4.25 billion in the matter, was named as receiver.

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