Jul. 13--Coral Gables banker Alfred R. Camner is the $4.9 billion man.

That's how much his lending strategy at the old BankUnited is expected to cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

When BankUnited collapsed under a mountain of exotic mortgages in late May, it had burgeoned into the largest Florida-based financial institution with $13 million in assets and 85 offices stretching along Florida's coast. An astounding 19 percent of its loans had soured.

The bank is now under new ownership that has pumped in fresh capital. But for its earlier woes, a cast of characters share the blame, including federal regulators and BankUnited's board of directors who permitted the costly misadventure, and customers who took out risky mortgages they sometimes couldn't afford or understand. Wall Street banks played a part, clamoring for mortgages to package and sell.

But the starring role goes to Camner himself, who dominated decision-making at the company and gave short shrift to cautionary cries.

FORCED RETIREMENT

Camner, 64, a bald and bespectacled man known as "Fred," started BankUnited Financial Corp. from scratch and served as its chairman and chief executive until October 2008, when his long-compliant board of directors rose up and forced him to retire.

By then, the bank was on its deathbed.

On the advice of his attorneys, Camner declined to comment for this article, citing pending litigation.

He remained BankUnited's largest shareholder when federal regulators seized its crown jewel, BankUnited, and sold it to investors May 21. The next day BankUnited Financial, its parent, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Shareholders -- including Camner -- are almost certainly wiped out. Bondholders will likely get a fraction of the $554 million owed them.

But for years, Camner and his family benefited handsomely from the bank that he founded in 1984 as a plain-vanilla thrift. Joining him as investors were Miami accountant Lawrence H. Blum, investor Allen M. Bernkrant, and insurance executive Marc D. Jacobson, Camner's close childhood friend and neighbor.

Smart and articulate, Camner learned the thrift business as an investor and general counsel at Miami-based Citizens Federal Bank, a successful venture that was run by his then-law partner, Charles Stuzin.

When BankUnited went public in 1992, Camner kept tight control through two classes of shares. His class B shares had 10 times and 25 times the votes of the class A shares sold to the public.