Republican state senator Jack Murphy says he’s innocent of federal charges brought against him. The FDIC is suing him and others who sat on the board of a failed local bank. The civil lawsuit alleges the bank violated banking laws.

Senator Murphy is among eight executives of the failed Integrity bank of Alpharetta. Federal regulators are suing them for gross negligence and breaching fiduciary duty.

Murphy who heads the senate banking committee says he’s surprised by the charges.

“We did nothing wrong. I had 340,000 shares of stock in that bank which was my retirement. I wanted to do everything I could to let that bank survive.”

Murphy says he won’t step down from his post as the senate banking committee chair.

Senate President Pro-Tem Tommie Williams says committee assignment members won’t condemn Murphy and they’ll review the situation Thursday.

“The committee on assignments will consider what’s happened and we’ll make the decision based on the facts that we know. As the lawsuit proceeds forward that may give us additional information to react to,” says Williams.

The lawsuit claims the bank violated state laws by exceeding its lending limit to borrowers.

Tags: FDIC, bank failure, state senator Jack Murphy, banking laws