American Savings Loan Association

If William J. Popejoy's job as chief executive of Financial Corp. of America is in jeopardy, it is not apparent from the comments of the people who set his business agenda and pay his $524,000 annual salary. "We have a lot of confidence and faith in Bill Popejoy," said Roger Martin, one of three members of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the nation's primary regulatory agency for savings and loan firms. "In my opinion, the (FCA) board is 100% supportive of him," added Robert M.

The federal government, which poured $5.4 billion into failed American Savings & Loan, has recouped $665 million by selling its stake in the Irvine thrift's successor. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Thursday that it sold 14 million shares in Washington Mutual Inc., which acquired the reconstituted American Savings Bank last month. The sale closes a major chapter on the nation's thrift debacle of the 1980s.

It owned a foreclosed bordello, a mine that produced a Kitty Litter-like gravel for cats and a collection of securities and loans that at one point were worth a staggering $3 billion less than their original value. In short, American Savings, once the nation's largest savings and loan, up until the end of 1988 was the thrift industry's equivalent of a huge toxic waste dump. It was a mess in need of a mind-boggling clean-up job, with nasty surprises lurking everywhere.

The federal government, which poured $5.4 billion into failed American Savings & Loan, has recouped $665 million by selling its stake in the Irvine thrift's successor. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Thursday that it sold 14 million shares in Washington Mutual Inc., which acquired the reconstituted American Savings Bank last month. The sale closes a major chapter on the nation's thrift debacle of the 1980s.

Accusing federal regulators of secrecy and stonewalling, House Banking Committee Chairman Fernand St Germain (D-R.I.) said Tuesday that he will press his investigation of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board's campaign to find a buyer for crippled Financial Corp. of America. An angry St Germain said the bank board, in its eagerness to find a buyer, had been persistently ignoring his requests for information about Irvine-based FCA.

The federal Resolution Trust Corp., as part of a new Bush Administration initiative to cut the cost of the thrift bailout, said Friday that it will seek to renegotiate the government-assisted sale of American Savings & Loan in 1988. The Robert M. Bass Group of Ft. Worth purchased insolvent American Savings in late 1988 with an estimated $2.7 billion in federal assistance.

The federal Resolution Trust Corp. said Friday that it will seek to renegotiate the 1988 federally assisted sale of American Savings & Loan to the Robert M. Bass Group, as part of a new initiative of the Bush Administration. Bass of Fort Worth, Tex., bought insolvent American Savings in late 1988 with an estimated $2.7 billion in federal assistance. The deal was among a flurry of controversial sales of troubled thrifts in 1988 that critics have said amounted to a federal giveaway.

The banking regulator most directly involved in the attempted rescue of American Savings is Roger F. Martin, a 61-year-old businessman from Wisconsin who joined the three-member Federal Home Loan Bank Board a year ago. From the beginning of his tenure on the board, Martin has had the difficult and highly charged task of finding new capital for American Savings. It did not take long for Martin, although likable, to earn a reputation as a loose cannon on the deck of the bank board.

The federal government, which poured $5.4 billion into failed American Savings & Loan, has recouped $665 million by selling its stake in the Irvine thrift's successor. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Thursday that it sold 14 million shares in Washington Mutual Inc., which acquired the reconstituted American Savings Bank last month. The sale closes a major chapter on the nation's thrift debacle of the 1980s.

Charles W. Knapp--the controversial Los Angeles financier who once headed Financial Corp. of America, the nation's largest savings and loan--had big plans in mind when he formed Trafalgar Mortgage a couple of years ago. Under the leadership of Lawrence Taggart, a former top California banking regulator, Trafalgar Mortgage was supposed to become a nationwide mortgage lender within three years through the acquisition of up to 200 small companies.

If the world of savings and loans has a phoenix, its name is American Savings. Once a proud financial company that helped make home ownership possible for hundreds of thousands Southern Californians by offering low-cost mortgages, American Savings grew to become the nation's largest thrift. Then a slumping real estate market and new owners in the early 1980s transformed it into a toxic waste dump of financial assets. A $5.

William J. Popejoy knows about working inside a pressure cooker. In August, 1984, as the nation was just beginning to understand the impending savings and loan debacle, he was called in to run the nation's largest and most troubled S&L amid huge loses and intense public scrutiny. For four years atop American Savings & Loan, he rode out a series of crises that strained his nerves to the point that he blew up at times, prompting comments about him having a volcanic temper.

American Savings & Loan, once the nation's largest thrift before its 1988 collapse, now ranks as the nation's most expensive S&L failure, costing taxpayers $5.4 billion, or more than triple the previous official estimate, regulators said Thursday. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the increase was caused mostly by a more detailed evaluation of loans, securities and other holdings after a complicated and controversial sale of the failed institution in December, 1988.

During the four years before its sale in late 1988, American Savings & Loan was a shareholder-owned company under tight control by federal thrift regulators as it hemorrhaged more than $900 million in red ink. Yet, from its Irvine corporate headquarters, the nation's biggest thrift at the time still managed to contribute to the political campaigns of more than three dozen local and state legislators.

A federal grand jury in Philadelphia on Wednesday indicted Miami investor Leonard A. Pelullo on 55 criminal counts stemming from a scheme to defraud American Savings & Loan of Stockton and Royale Group Ltd. of $1.6 million. The indictment also charges that Pelullo, 40, separately defrauded Miami-based Royale Group of an additional $600,000. According to the indictment, Pelullo--as chairman of Royale Group--borrowed $13.5 million from American Savings to renovate several hotels owned by Royale.

The federal Resolution Trust Corp., as part of a new Bush Administration initiative to cut the cost of the thrift bailout, said Friday that it will seek to renegotiate the government-assisted sale of American Savings & Loan in 1988. The Robert M. Bass Group of Ft. Worth purchased insolvent American Savings in late 1988 with an estimated $2.7 billion in federal assistance.

Financial Corp. of America, once the parent company of American Savings & Loan, has applied for formal liquidation, it was announced Wednesday. A motion will be filed in bankruptcy court to change the company's petition from Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to Chapter 7, said David A. Gill, FCA's trustee. That means that FCA will be liquidated and not reorganized.

Financial Corp. of America, hammered by continued heavy losses, on Wednesday proposed that the federal government come to its rescue with a $1.5-billion bailout of its operating subsidiary, American Savings & Loan, the country's largest thrift. Irvine-based FCA, which has been on shaky financial ground since it suffered a terrifying $6.8-billion run on its deposits in 1984, on Wednesday announced a whopping loss of $468 million for 1987, including $225 million in the fourth quarter alone.

The federal Resolution Trust Corp. said Friday that it will seek to renegotiate the 1988 federally assisted sale of American Savings & Loan to the Robert M. Bass Group, as part of a new initiative of the Bush Administration. Bass of Fort Worth, Tex., bought insolvent American Savings in late 1988 with an estimated $2.7 billion in federal assistance. The deal was among a flurry of controversial sales of troubled thrifts in 1988 that critics have said amounted to a federal giveaway.

Federal authorities said Friday that 15 people--including five Orange County and two Los Angeles-area residents--have been indicted in Seattle in what they described as a $25-million fraud and racketeering scheme against financial institutions in seven states. The figure behind much of the fraud was Douglas P. Blankenship of Capistrano Beach, who was arrested Thursday, authorities said.