Centrust Savings Bank

An "interlocking relationship" existed between the failed CenTrust Savings Bank of Miami and the indicted Bank of Credit & Commerce International, a congressional report said Monday. The links included a joint contribution to a philanthropic foundation run by former President Jimmy Carter and reimbursement by CenTrust of a BCCI official's purchase of airline tickets to transport six French chefs to a dinner party. The report on CenTrust's failure was submitted by Sen.

CenTrust Chairman Sentenced to 11 Years: David Paul was also ordered to pay $60 million in restitution and a $5-million fine for his part in the $1.7-billion collapse of the largest savings and loan in the Southeast. Paul, 55, was earlier convicted of 97 counts of racketeering and fraud in connection with the 1990 failure of Miami-based CenTrust Bank, whose failure was the fourth-biggest in U.S. history. Paul must report to prison in 30 days.

David Paul, convicted chairman of failed Centrust Bank, has agreed to settle federal securities charges without admitting wrongdoing in junk bond deals with Charles H. Keating Jr., a regulator said Tuesday. Paul will accept an injunction barring him from any future fraud or disclosure violations following charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

David Paul Must Surrender on Contempt Charge: The ousted chairman of CenTrust Savings Bank of Miami was sentenced to 18 months in prison after refusing to give documents to a grand jury investigating the thrift's $1.7-billion failure. U.S. District Judge Stanley Marcus found Paul in contempt of court and gave him until Monday afternoon to surrender to U.S. marshals.

Florida banking regulators have ordered CenTrust Savings Bank, which lost $10 million in its most recent quarter, to sell a $12-million Peter Paul Rubens painting hanging in its chairman's house. The savings bank bought "Portrait of a Man as Mars" by the Flemish Rubens, 1577-1640, from Sotheby's auction house for $12 million plus a $1.2-million commission last fall. "It's a beautiful painting," said CenTrust Chairman David Paul.

A federal grand jury has indicted David L. Paul, the former CenTrust Savings Bank chairman, on fraud charges arising from the alleged sham purchase of $25 million in securities by BCCI, authorities said Friday. James McAdams, acting U.S. attorney for southern Florida, announced that a federal grand jury had issued the indictment against Paul, who was jailed earlier this week on contempt of court charges. The indictment listed counts of conspiracy and other crimes.

Two of the great financial scandals of the early 1990s--the collapse of the savings and loan industry and the strange case of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International--are starting to converge as federal investigators unravel hidden ties between the two. Uncovered only in the last few days, the link between the S&L mess and the BCCI affair already is threatening to lead to a new round of charges of political influence-peddling in Washington.

Great Western Financial agreed Friday to buy CenTrust Federal Savings Bank in Florida in the biggest taxpayer bailout yet of a savings and loan. The deal marks the end of a thrift that came to symbolize some of the worst examples of greed and gluttony in the nation's thrift debacle. Taxpayers will pick up a bill of about $1.7 billion for CenTrust. Great Western, the Beverly Hills parent of Great Western Bank, will pay $86.4 million for CenTrust's 71 branches and $5.2 billion in deposits.

Federal investigators looking into fraud at several of the largest failed savings and loans are hoping for a boost once Michael Milken begins sharing information with the government, sources say. The Securities and Exchange Commission in particular is conducting an intensive investigation of whether Lincoln Savings & Loan Assn.

Ousted Centrust Bank Chairman David Paul was convicted Wednesday of federal fraud charges for using millions of dollars in thrift funds for his personal expenses while the savings and loan was failing. Paul, convicted on all but one of 69 counts, faces a maximum of 350 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 11. He was acquitted of one minor charge. Prosecutors asked that Paul, who is free on bond, be taken into custody immediately as a flight risk.

Sanford Bohrer was one of many attorneys who represented CenTrust Bank Chairman David Paul in his battles against regulators, but he was the only one compelled to testify in the millionaire's fraud trial. Prosecutors stepped into choppy legal waters to put Bohrer on the stand in the 71-count federal case against Paul, who presided over one of the nation's worst thrift failures, costing taxpayers $1.7 billion.

Ousted CenTrust Savings Chairman David Paul walked out of his trial on federal civil charges Monday after lecturing the judge for 45 minutes about the proceedings, which he later called a "charade." The Office of Thrift Supervision, which is supervising the savings and loan bailout, is seeking $3 million in fines for Paul's allegedly improper money transfers and his failure to comply with its orders since his thrift's $1.7-billion failure in February, 1990.

CenTrust Chief Faces First Trial on Government Charges: David Paul, former head of CenTrust Savings, faces trial in Miami today in a civil case brought by the Office of Thrift Supervision over $3.2 million in fines. Paul is a focal point in three major financial scandals: the savings and loan bailout, Michael Milken's junk bond sales and the rogue international bank BCCI.

A new 100-count racketeering indictment against former Miami savings and loan executive David Paul was filed Wednesday by the Justice Department, expanding charges returned against him by a federal grand jury last February. Paul, the former chairman of CenTrust, was named in the superseding indictment along with William Berry, former head of the investment division of the failed thrift. The new 134-page indictment accuses Paul and Berry of converting CenTrust into a racketeering operation.

David Paul Pleads Innocent: The imprisoned former chairman of failed CenTrust pleaded innocent to a federal indictment charging that he manipulated bond holdings to prop up the failing Florida-based thrift while it was under regulatory scrutiny. Paul, wearing a prison-issue khaki uniform, made his first court appearance on the indictment issued Friday and his first public appearance since beginning an 18-month sentence last week for contempt of court.

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) wrote a letter to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in September, 1988, at the request of a contributor, David L. Paul, owner of CenTrust Savings Bank, the Miami-based thrift owned partly by the scandal-ridden Bank of Credit & Commerce International, according to a report published Saturday.

Once he ate from Limoges china, sipped his wine from Baccarat crystal goblets, imported five French chefs for a private dinner party and hosted Elizabeth Taylor on his $7-million yacht. He founded a world-class symphony orchestra, donated millions to charity and elbowed his way into Miami's elite circle of power brokers. From atop a gleaming 47-story office building designed by architect I. M.

Once he ate from Limoges china, sipped his wine from Baccarat crystal goblets, imported five French chefs for a private dinner party and hosted Elizabeth Taylor on his $7-million yacht. He founded a world-class symphony orchestra, donated millions to charity and elbowed his way into Miami's elite circle of power brokers. From atop a gleaming 47-story office building designed by architect I. M.

A federal grand jury has indicted David L. Paul, the former CenTrust Savings Bank chairman, on fraud charges arising from the alleged sham purchase of $25 million in securities by BCCI, authorities said Friday. James McAdams, acting U.S. attorney for southern Florida, announced that a federal grand jury had issued the indictment against Paul, who was jailed earlier this week on contempt of court charges. The indictment listed counts of conspiracy and other crimes.