Now he's negotiating to sell the bank's consumer loan business to an undisclosed buyer for about $10 million, roughly half what banking analysts thought it was worth six months ago.
"Because of the condition of our bank and our need for capital, the people that are purchasing it are making a very tough deal," he said. "As a practical matter, we would swallow our pride and do this - just because we have to raise the capital. It's all about capital."
There's no guarantee the deal will get done, lousy as it is. Hale has been talking about it for months. Even if it does, 1st Mariner has to raise another $10 million to mollify the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
And even that might not be enough. 1st Mariner looks more likely than other banks to have to set aside new reserves for bad loans, said independent banking analyst Bert Ely. If that happens, the hole gets deeper.
Where would 1st Mariner get $10 million? The company has hired New York advisory firm Sandler O'Neill to come up with ideas.
"We're going to go out and possibly get some money from our board members," Hale said. But they might not be much more liquid than Hale is himself.
Which hints at the real key to Hale's becoming the rare banker to parry two cease-and-desist orders for inadequate capital. His fate is tied to the economy. If unemployment stops rising, if the nation starts adding jobs, if the moneyed classes decide to lend to somebody besides the very safest borrowers, 1st Mariner could stop its losses and increase its capital.
It has nine months.
Hale paints the FDIC's diktat in a good light, saying it gives investors a clear view of what 1st Mariner must achieve and when.
The stock market had a different opinion. After news of the order broke late Monday, the bank's shares fell 33 cents a share Tuesday to $1.55, losing 18 percent of their value.
