First Fed Bank adds board member amid settlement proceedings

PORT ANGELES — Diane C. Davis has been appointed the board of directors for First Fed Bank and its holding company, First Northwest Bancorp.

The move on Wednesday comes less than a week after the Port Angeles-based bank settled a lawsuit connected with its involvement in a water vending company.

Davis has 25 years of strategy, risk management and corporate governance experience in the insurance industry, according to a First Northwest Bancorp press release. From March 2020 to June, Davis served on the board of First Financial Northwest Bank.

In March, First Financial Northwest, the holding company for First Financial Northwest Bank, was acquired by Global Federal Credit Union.

Davis also is a co-chair of the Seattle Conversation on Board Diversity and a former member of the board of directors for Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King County.

On July 17, First Fed entered into a settlement agreement related to its relationship with a water vending machine company that is being investigated by the state Department of Financial Institutions for operating a Ponzi scheme.

First Fed, three companies involved in the water vending business — Water Station Management, Creative Technologies and Refreshing — plus Ideal Property Investments and a number of other parties agreed to drop their lawsuits and countersuits filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Tacoma.

As part of the agreement, First Fed agreed to pay between $2.87 million and $5.74 million the other parties, according to SEC filings.

In a May 21 revised SEC filing, First Fed noted that its expenses had included $5.8 million related to a "legal matter."

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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at [email protected].