Fort Lauderdale's BankAtlantic was sold to BB&T in 2012 — but its former executives are still awaiting their severance payments, according to a new lawsuit.

The bank's former holding company, BBX Capital Corp., is suing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve Board for “arbitrarily and capriciously” withholding approval of $4.8 million in severance payments for five former executives.

The Nov. 22 lawsuit comes more than six months after BBX and CEO Alan Levan defeated a securities fraud action tied to the bank's public disclosures.

The FDIC has not denied approval of the payments, but the agency classified them as “golden parachute” payments in a 2013 letter that cites a regulation created to stop leaders of troubled banks from lining their pockets after a bust.

“Most frequently, you would see it denied if the bank failed,” said BBX attorney Grace Mead of Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson in Miami. “[BankAtlantic] didn't fail. It didn't come close to failing. It was always well-capitalized. … So we don't think it's a close case.”

BankAtlantic stopped being profitable in 2006 and took losses during the housing crisis that led regulators to order a capital boost in 2011, according to Reuters. When BB&T bought the bank in 2012, it acquired $3.3 billion in deposits and $2.1 billion in loans. The deal, which detailed the planned severance payment amounts, was approved by federal regulators.

BBX is now asking U.S. District Senior Judge James Cohn in Fort Lauderdale to issue a judgment allowing the holding company to pay out the severance packages, which range from about $740,000 to $1.3 million. The five former BankAtlantic executives awaiting payment are Chief Operating Officer Lloyd DeVaux, Chief Risk Officer Jay McClung, Chief Talent Officer Susan McGregor, Chief Investment Officer Lewis Sarrica and Chief Financial Officer Valerie Toalson.

“The applications have been pending for four years, and we've followed up and responded to each and every question [regulators] have, and they simply haven't acted upon them,” Mead said.

The FDIC has not specifically cited the now-resolved U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission case as a reason to withhold approval, Mead said. The SEC alleged BBX and Levan misled investors about the health of BankAtlantic's real estate portfolio in 2007.

A jury initially ruled in favor of the SEC, leading to a hefty fine and an order temporarily banning Levan from running a public company. After an appeal led to a new trial in May, a jury rejected all the SEC claims.

“That trial record is part of the story here, which is that this bank and these executives moved as quickly as possible to appropriately recognize losses, and by doing so, they were ahead of the curve,” Mead said.

When the 2012 sale closed, BBX was out of the banking world. It now focuses on holdings in businesses such as real estate, resort management and chocolate. Mead and her colleagues Eugene Stearns and Jenea Reed argue the “golden parachute” regulations therefore can't apply, as they are only applicable to institutions that take deposits or those institutions' owners.

“The FDIC's interpretation does not address the situation here — where a company is no longer regulated by the FDIC and has exited banking in a transaction that did not cost the federal government a penny,” the attorneys argue in the complaint.

As they did in the SEC trial, the Stearns Weaver team aims to differentiate BankAtlantic's leaders from Wall Street fat cats who hid the effects of subprime lending and profited while customers suffered. BankAtlantic publicly warned investors about the housing bubble earlier than other financial institutions, and the bank was ultimately sold without any risk to depositors, Mead said.

“What happened here, in part, is that the fog of the Great Recession obscured what these executives really did,” Mead said. “Way back in '07, when they recognized humongous losses, the inference that everyone seemed to draw was that they had done something wrong, rather than that they were being as forthright as possible about a worldwide meltdown.”

Representatives for the FDIC and the Federal Reserve declined to comment.