Lincoln Savings Loan

Charles H. Keating Jr. and four associates Monday pleaded innocent to a broad federal indictment charging them with racketeering and fraud in connection with the 1989 collapse of Irvine-based Lincoln Savings & Loan. The arraignment on the federal charges Monday came just 11 days after a jury in Los Angeles Superior Court convicted Keating on narrower state charges of securities fraud stemming from the sale of his company's bonds at Lincoln.

A federal banking official who played a role in both the 1989 failure of Lincoln Savings & Loan and last year's collapse of Pasadena's IndyMac Bank is retiring. Darrel W. Dochow had earlier been relieved of his duties as Western regional director of the federal Office of Thrift Supervision. That action came in December after the Treasury Department's inspector general found that IndyMac had been allowed to report its finances in a way that delayed disclosure of the extent of its problems.

Protesting his innocence and proclaiming his good intentions have not succeeded in clearing his name. And neither has lying low, waiting for the storm clouds of scandal to blow over. So reelection-minded U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston changed his tactics Wednesday and hurled a fuming broadside against his prime tormentor--former federal bank board chief Edwin J. Gray. "A publicity-hungry political hack . . . Gray lies . . . lies over and over in the Hitlerian technique of the Big Lie," Cranston said.

Citing possible jury misconduct, a federal appeals court in Los Angeles on Friday ordered a hearing into whether a new fraud and racketeering trial should be held for convicted financier Charles H. Keating Jr. The ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals comes just two months after Keating's 1991 state securities fraud conviction was thrown out because it was based on "nonexistent and erroneous legal theory" and "erroneous" jury instructions.

A Superior Court judge refused Friday to dismiss securities fraud charges against former thrift owner Charles H. Keating Jr. and three others, setting the stage for the first criminal trial stemming from the failure of Lincoln Savings & Loan. Judge Lance A. Ito in Los Angeles said that enough evidence was brought before a grand jury to show that crimes were committed and that there was a "strong suspicion" that the four defendants committed those crimes.

An elderly woman, who allegedly lost thousands of dollars because of the failure of Lincoln Savings & Loan, provided sparks on the first day of a fraud trial of former owner Charles H. Keating when she grabbed the executive by the lapels and screamed at him to return her money. "Mr. Keating, you took all my money away," the distraught woman yelled. "What happened to my money? I can't work anymore."

The chief financial officer in Charles H. Keating Jr.'s real estate and thrift empire was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for his role in the 1989 collapse of Lincoln Savings & Loan. Andrew F. Ligget, who had pleaded guilty to three felony counts of misapplying $28.7 million in S&L funds, also must pay $148,000 in restitution for the interest that the Irvine thrift lost because of his actions. U.S. District Judge Mariana R.

Three cohorts of Charles H. Keating Jr. were put on probation Monday by federal judges who lauded them for admitting their guilt early and for helping to convict the former operator of Lincoln Savings & Loan. Raymond C. Fidel, a former president of the Irvine thrift, and Ernest C. Garcia II, an Arizona developer and major borrower, were each put on three years' probation for their roles in the nation's costliest thrift failure. Mark S.

Small investors in Charles H. Keating Jr.'s company won a record courtroom verdict 14 months ago, but they have since recovered barely half of the money they lost after his Lincoln Savings & Loan collapsed. Two months ago, a group of mostly elderly bondholders meeting in Sherman Oaks were so frustrated that they sent a scroll with 300 signatures to Joseph W. Cotchett Jr., their chief trial lawyer, asking when they might receive more of the $286 million that investors lost altogether.

A combative Charles H. Keating Jr., symbol of the savings and loan debacle to many, said Wednesday that he is broke and may lose his house. But he vowed to keep fighting the government's charges of fraud and racketeering in the collapse of Lincoln Savings & Loan. "Whether you like what I'm telling you or not, I'm telling the truth," Keating lectured a packed house at the National Press Club.

The star prosecution witness in the federal fraud trial of former Lincoln Savings & Loan operator Charles H. Keating Jr. won a court order Monday that frees her from repaying the government $3.5 million. Judith J. Wischer, an accountant who became president of the Irvine thrift's parent company, American Continental Corp. in Phoenix, had been ordered to pay the restitution as part of her sentence after pleading guilty to bank and securities fraud in a plea bargain.

Keating Ordered to Pay Restitution: A federal judge ordered former Lincoln Savings & Loan operator Charles H. Keating Jr. to pay the government $36.3 million in restitution for directing the now-defunct Irvine thrift to make illegal loans. Federal regulators, however, doubt they can get much money because Keating maintains he is broke.

Judy J. Wischer, once the top aide to former Lincoln Savings & Loan operator Charles H. Keating Jr., was put on probation Monday for three years and ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution for her role in the 1989 collapse of the Irvine thrift. Wischer's sentencing--lenient because of her cooperation with authorities--ends the long investigation and the trial court proceedings against those responsible for the thrift industry's most notorious failure.

Federal judge in Los Angeles Monday sentenced Judy J. Wischer, once the top aide to former Lincoln Savings & Loan operator Charles H. Keating Jr.,--to three years of probation and ordered her to pay $3.5 million in restitution for her role in Lincoln's collapse. Wischer's sentencing ends the long investigation and court proceedings against those responsible for the thrift industry's most notorious failure during the go-go 1980s. Lincoln's failure in 1989 is expected to cost taxpayers $3.

Three cohorts of Charles H. Keating Jr. were put on probation Monday by federal judges who lauded them for admitting their guilt early and for helping to convict the former operator of Lincoln Savings & Loan. Raymond C. Fidel, a former president of the Irvine thrift, and Ernest C. Garcia II, an Arizona developer and major borrower, were each put on three years' probation for their roles in the nation's costliest thrift failure. Mark S.

Small investors who were devastated when Lincoln Savings & Loan collapsed urged a federal judge Monday to take care of them first if the government recoups any funds that might have been hidden by former Lincoln operator Charles H. Keating Jr. U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer was sympathetic.

Charles H. Keating Jr., who has become the symbol of scandal in the savings and loan industry, took the witness stand Tuesday to deny that he engaged in sham transactions while operating Lincoln Savings & Loan. Testifying for the first time in his own defense, Keating insisted that the deals he negotiated on behalf of Lincoln were no different from the many unquestioned transactions he completed before his company bought the Irvine thrift in 1984.

Taxpayers will pay $800 million more to clean up Lincoln Savings & Loan, already the nation's costliest S&L failure, as continuing expenses and lower purchase prices for its holdings have pushed the cost of liquidating the defunct Irvine thrift to $3.4 billion. The Resolution Trust Corp., which is disposing of Lincoln, said it has revised its estimate from its original forecast of $2.

The chief financial officer in Charles H. Keating Jr.'s real estate and thrift empire was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for his role in the 1989 collapse of Lincoln Savings & Loan. Andrew F. Ligget, who had pleaded guilty to three felony counts of misapplying $28.7 million in S&L funds, also must pay $148,000 in restitution for the interest that the Irvine thrift lost because of his actions. U.S. District Judge Mariana R.