The Securities and Exchange Commission told a jury Friday Alan B. Levan, the former chairman of Fort Lauderdale’s BankAtlantic Bancorp, had millions of reasons to lie to investors in the summer of 2007 as he watched the institution’s real estate loan portfolio crumble.

“Why lie? To make the bank look stronger than it was. He owned millions of dollars of stock,” said SEC attorney Russell Koonin during the agency’s closing statements in the six-week long trial.