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TexasTowelie

(112,150 posts)
Tue Apr 1, 2014, 10:55 PM Apr 2014

Charles Keating Jr., key figure in '80s savings and loan scandal, dies

Source: AP

Charles H. Keating Jr., the notorious financier who served prison time and was disgraced for his role in the costliest savings and loan failure of the 1980s, has died. He was 90.

A person with direct knowledge of the death confirmed Tuesday that Keating had died but didn’t provide further details. The person wasn’t authorized to release the information and spoke on condition of anonymity.

When Keating’s Phoenix-based home construction company, American Continental Corp., bought Lincoln Savings & Loan in 1984, the multimillionaire elevated its worth from $1.1 billion to $5.5 billion in a four-year period.

But his financial empire crumbled with state and federal convictions for defrauding investors. Keating allegedly bilked Lincoln customers by selling them $200 million of unsecured “junk” bonds. They became worthless when Keating’s company became bankrupt.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20140401-charles-keating-jr.-key-figure-in-80s-savings-and-loan-scandal-dies.ece

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Charles Keating Jr., key figure in '80s savings and loan scandal, dies (Original Post) TexasTowelie Apr 2014 OP
I had NO IDEA that I was going to be throwing and "DING-DONG" party.... Ecumenist Apr 2014 #1
And contributed to huge losses in my working class neighborhood with his scams. I hated RTC, and all freshwest Apr 2014 #34
I think it's going to be warm where he's going. Just sayin'........... nt okaawhatever Apr 2014 #2
"Daddy... can you tell me the story again of the time..." MannyGoldstein Apr 2014 #3
Long, long ago dear there were two evil welfare queens..... DeSwiss Apr 2014 #17
But then another judge came back and set him free. :/ tofuandbeer Apr 2014 #29
Wonderful news! bluestateguy Apr 2014 #4
It's paytime for Keating. Wouldn't want to be in his shoes! Auntie Bush Apr 2014 #5
Chuck was a royal asshole!!!! Playinghardball Apr 2014 #6
If he had been a Bankster these days, he would still be working SoapBox Apr 2014 #7
Don't forget a put a good word in for Gramps McCain... MrMickeysMom Apr 2014 #8
I wonder if he died reading Hustler trying to get Larry Flynt's ass again. Nanjing to Seoul Apr 2014 #9
McCain: The Most Reprehensible of the Keating Five Zorro Apr 2014 #10
Thanks for the link Blue_Tires Apr 2014 #35
The final paragraph in the article makes things quite clear Zorro Apr 2014 #38
Whenever my husband and I drive Arizona we go on the keating road kimbutgar Apr 2014 #11
As I recall, Keating also presented himself as a champion of "traditional morality" Ken Burch Apr 2014 #12
You are correct. The "morality" campaigning provided cover,... JHB Apr 2014 #21
I'd forgotten he was from Cincinnati Ken Burch Apr 2014 #28
The Bushes must be devastated. nt Mnemosyne Apr 2014 #13
McCain must be devastated. bangpath_root Apr 2014 #14
The irony here is...... DeSwiss Apr 2014 #15
And the population of hell goes up by one. n/t Downtown Hound Apr 2014 #16
... Spitfire of ATJ Apr 2014 #18
original AP link alp227 Apr 2014 #19
Can't take it with you. I'd hate to be loaded down with his karma... Lodestar Apr 2014 #20
how come these miserable people live so long? Javaman Apr 2014 #22
"Good fuckin riddance to bad rubbish" - Johnny Rotten. HughBeaumont Apr 2014 #23
McCain recieved the most money and other perks from Keating, a fact that mulsh Apr 2014 #24
Is John McCain going to go to his funeral? (N/M) Grins Apr 2014 #25
I hope at least his family will miss him. But people like this have a way of shitting on even those yurbud Apr 2014 #26
I hope my college fund warmed his final days. politicat Apr 2014 #27
Don't forget Neil bu$h. He and his buddies screwed Silverado Savings and Loan. TxVietVet Apr 2014 #30
Let's not forget the Keating Five who made it all possible. Lars28 Apr 2014 #31
If I recall, all 5 of them were caught and received some sort of slap on the wrist hughee99 Apr 2014 #36
Yes, and yet they cost the taxpayers billions of dollars. Lars28 Apr 2014 #40
That's one more asshole who's damage is done! santamargarita Apr 2014 #32
In prison? Heywood J Apr 2014 #33
If the world were just, a pauper's grave would be waiting Tom Ripley Apr 2014 #37
How sad that he made it to 90. The rich thieves always live a wonderful long life. clandestiny Apr 2014 #39

Ecumenist

(6,086 posts)
1. I had NO IDEA that I was going to be throwing and "DING-DONG" party....
Tue Apr 1, 2014, 11:02 PM
Apr 2014

This piece of barely human trash contributed to the early death of my great aunt...

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
34. And contributed to huge losses in my working class neighborhood with his scams. I hated RTC, and all
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 09:35 PM
Apr 2014
the rest of the arrogant Reagan era crooks. It cost me personally tens of thousands of dollars, and it was all 'legal' of course.

The eighties were full of these types, and they all got away with it. Of course like the old saying goes, 'the shortage will be divided amongst the peasants.'

We had to take it and kept on working, but learned once again the good old boys made their money stealing from working people. It just got more vicious and open with Reagan, as if the New Deal never happened.

I'm sorry about your aunt, this is what they do, shorten lives and impoverish people. Then turn around and spit on them.


 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
3. "Daddy... can you tell me the story again of the time..."
Tue Apr 1, 2014, 11:15 PM
Apr 2014

"...bankers were prosecuted?"

"Well once upon a time, many years ago..."

 

DeSwiss

(27,137 posts)
17. Long, long ago dear there were two evil welfare queens.....
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 01:14 AM
Apr 2014

...they lived in an evil concrete and granite canyon called WALLSTREET. There they plotted their evil designs on retirement funds and manipulated silver and gold markets, and worst of all, they made so beau coup of the munies on processing the food stamps for the poor that they decided to relieve those old pensioners of their Social Securities as well.

[center][/center]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! And no one could top them because they were all afraid. All but one. The One.




- Meh. But he decided to have lunch with the queens instead.......

SoapBox

(18,791 posts)
7. If he had been a Bankster these days, he would still be working
Tue Apr 1, 2014, 11:36 PM
Apr 2014

(stealing) and living free.

Burn in you know where, Crook.

MrMickeysMom

(20,453 posts)
8. Don't forget a put a good word in for Gramps McCain...
Tue Apr 1, 2014, 11:41 PM
Apr 2014

I'm getting tired of the sleaze left here on earth.

May both your souls evolve in another solar system, while we deal with what's left on earth, shit stain.

Blue_Tires

(55,445 posts)
35. Thanks for the link
Thu Apr 3, 2014, 05:36 PM
Apr 2014

I didn't know how dirty his role was....

EDIT: evidently Greenspan was in on it, too:

Mr. Keating hired Alan Greenspan, soon to be chairman of the Federal Reserve, who compiled a report saying Lincoln’s depositors faced “no foreseeable risk” and praising a “seasoned and expert” management. Mr. Keating soon called on five senators who had been recipients of his campaign largess — Alan Cranston of California, Donald W. Riegle Jr. of Michigan, John Glenn of Ohio and Dennis DeConcini and John McCain of Arizona — to pressure the bank board to relax its rules and kill its investigation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/business/charles-keating-key-figure-in-the-1980s-savings-and-loan-crisis-dies-at-90.html?_r=0

Zorro

(15,740 posts)
38. The final paragraph in the article makes things quite clear
Thu Apr 3, 2014, 09:55 PM
Apr 2014

"You're John McCain, clearly the guiltiest, most culpable and reprehensible of the Keating Five. But you know the power of television and you realize this is the only way you can possibly save your political career."

And that was written in 1989.

kimbutgar

(21,137 posts)
11. Whenever my husband and I drive Arizona we go on the keating road
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 12:22 AM
Apr 2014

This road was built for keating who was planning on developing in area off highway 10. He got busted but the road stayed. John McCain should gave lost his seat over that scandal.

 

Ken Burch

(50,254 posts)
12. As I recall, Keating also presented himself as a champion of "traditional morality"
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 12:32 AM
Apr 2014

And spent a great deal of time trying to limit access to contraception and abortion services.

It's always the most corrupt who see themselves as "moral leaders". And the wealthiest of the wealthy always reserve the right to pass dismissive judgment on the rest of us.

I hope he spends all eternity as a pregnant, unmarried entry-level filing clerk. With HPV and chlamydia.

JHB

(37,159 posts)
21. You are correct. The "morality" campaigning provided cover,...
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 07:58 AM
Apr 2014

...letting him cultivate a reputation as an "upstanding citizen" and "Mr. Clean" even as his financial dealings were rather less upstanding and clean.

In 1952, along with his brother, William, and a mutual friend from law school, he became a founding partner of the Cincinnati law firm Keating, Muething & Keating.[21] Beginning in the late 1950s they took on Carl Lindner, Jr. as a client. Lindner was rapidly accumulating ice cream stores, supermarkets, real estate, and savings and loans, and soon essentially became Keating's sole client.[22] In 1956, he filed requests for Q clearances on behalf of a small company of former Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory scientists with an office in Newtown, Ohio; unknown to Keating, the FBI suspected the application was fradulent and launched an investigation of him, but no charges were made.[23][24] Keating was admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court bar in 1958.[25]

***

In 1956, Keating joined a priest leading a group of concerned Catholics in Cincinnati who were concerned about the dangers of pornography, and he began giving fervent talks on the subject to parents and other groups.[25] In 1958, Keating went to Washington, D.C. and testified before the House Judiciary Committee on mail-order pornography, saying that it was "capable of poisoning any mind at any age and of perverting our entire younger generation", that it was closely tied to juvenile delinquency, and that it was "part of the Communist conspiracy".[25]

Keating founded Citizens for Decent Literature in 1958, (later renamed a number of times, the best known of which is Citizens for Decency through Law),[14] which advocated reading classics not "smut."[28] It would grow to 300 chapters and 100,000 members nationwide and become the largest anti-pornography organization in the nation.[28] Over the next two decades the organization mailed some 40 million letters on behalf of its position and had filed amicus curiae briefs.[29] Keating gained the moniker "Mr. Clean".[30] During the early 1960s, Keating twice requested FBI assistance on behalf of his anti-pornography campaign but the bureau, still skeptical regarding Keating due to its early investigation, declined.[23][24] In 1964–65, Keating produced Perversion for Profit, a film featuring announcer George Putnam. It was a survey of then-available pornography, and asserted that pornography was linked to juvenile delinquency and decline in culture.[citation needed]

***

While officially an outside lawyer, Keating functioned as a public face for Carl Lindner and American Financial Corporation and the two were close associates on business as well as legal matters;[41] Lindner would sometimes refer to Keating as a "founder" of American Financial.[27] The company had easy access to credit lines, which allowed it to continually grow.[26] The web of transactions involving the company and its subsidiaries was large and complex, and one stock analyst stated in 1977 that he had "never come across a company that has so much strange paper on its books."[41]

Keating left his law practice in 1972 and formally joined American Financial Corporation, by now a $1 billion enterprise, as executive vice president.[48] Keating became Lindner's hatchet man, in charge of firing employees from newly acquired companies.[49] Within business circles Keating gained a reputation for aggressiveness and arrogance.[41] He took on an operational involvement in The Cincinnati Enquirer, the town's only morning newspaper.[37] He interfered in editorial decisions, such as adding coverage to high school sports that he or Lindner's sons were involved in. The paper was then sold to a group including his brother, William,[41] who had been a Republican congressman from Ohio's 1st congressional district in the early 1970s. Charles Keating was involved in American Financial's 1974 sale of Bantam Books,[50] and its decision that year not to enter the investment banking field.[51]

In 1975 and 1976, several stockholder lawsuits were filed against American Financial, and Keating was under fire for aspects involving unsecured loans, stock warrants, and the sale of the Enquirer.[41] The Securities and Exchange Commission launched a major investigation of the company and charged Lindner, Keating, and others with having defrauded investors and filing false SEC reports.[27][52] At particular issue was a $14 million loan that the SEC said was made on preferential terms.[10] Keating resigned from American Financial in August 1976, with conflicting stories regarding the reason and whether he remained close to Lindner or had a falling out with him.[8] [41][53]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Keating#Anti-pornography_activism

 

Ken Burch

(50,254 posts)
28. I'd forgotten he was from Cincinnati
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 01:33 PM
Apr 2014

Last edited Wed Apr 2, 2014, 04:37 PM - Edit history (1)

That brings up a great idea...George Clooney could play him in the movie.

(on edit) Or Clooney could direct(it'd be better to have him behind the camera, as somebody who has a real feel for Cincinnati)and have
James Cromwell play Clooney-the resemblance is uncanny and Cromwell is politically aware enough to nail all the aspects of the character.

 

DeSwiss

(27,137 posts)
15. The irony here is......
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 01:02 AM
Apr 2014

...this crooked banker's slush-fund/bribery entanglements with Senator John McCain, probably also help save us from a ''President John McCain.'' However small that help might have been, we are forever in his debt. Sort of. Ha!

- And for this Charlie, me and all the dehydrated babies of the world thank you!

K&R

Lodestar

(2,388 posts)
20. Can't take it with you. I'd hate to be loaded down with his karma...
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 03:42 AM
Apr 2014

Hope he comes back as an ant crawling on the floor at Wall Street.

Javaman

(62,521 posts)
22. how come these miserable people live so long?
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 08:09 AM
Apr 2014

I think I need to put on my dancing shoes.

may he rot in hell.

HughBeaumont

(24,461 posts)
23. "Good fuckin riddance to bad rubbish" - Johnny Rotten.
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 08:36 AM
Apr 2014

Of course, McCain has kind words for him. Old neo-fascist bastards who cannibalize their own stick together.

mulsh

(2,959 posts)
24. McCain recieved the most money and other perks from Keating, a fact that
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 09:14 AM
Apr 2014

somehow gets over looked when writing about the criminal activites of Mr. Keating and Mr. McCain.

yurbud

(39,405 posts)
26. I hope at least his family will miss him. But people like this have a way of shitting on even those
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 11:06 AM
Apr 2014

closest to them.

politicat

(9,808 posts)
27. I hope my college fund warmed his final days.
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 11:24 AM
Apr 2014

And my condolences to his family.

Also, what is the contact info for Hell's Welcome Wagon? I have a rotten fruit and Escolar basket I need to send.

I was a very small child when the S&L destroyed my college savings. It wasn't much -- only a couple thousand -- but it also represented half of every birthday's cash and half of my allowance.

There are some obits I take great pleasure in reading. This is one.

TxVietVet

(1,905 posts)
30. Don't forget Neil bu$h. He and his buddies screwed Silverado Savings and Loan.
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 02:18 PM
Apr 2014

I'd gladly spend eternity in Hell if a bu$h is in the cell next to me.

People forget about the S&L collapse and how much taxpayers dished out to rescue them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_loan_crisis

 

Lars28

(84 posts)
31. Let's not forget the Keating Five who made it all possible.
Wed Apr 2, 2014, 02:27 PM
Apr 2014

U.S. Senators Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), John McCain (R-AZ), and Donald W. Riegle (D-MI).

McCain, as I recall, was the top dog in the conspiracy to help Keating resist the regulators.

hughee99

(16,113 posts)
36. If I recall, all 5 of them were caught and received some sort of slap on the wrist
Thu Apr 3, 2014, 05:57 PM
Apr 2014

from the Ethics committee for involving themselves with the regulators or the investigation on behalf of Keating with Cranston getting the harshest slap (an official reprimand on the Senate floor). McCain and Glenn were "cleared of impropriety but criticized for poor judgement", whatever the hell that means.

 

Lars28

(84 posts)
40. Yes, and yet they cost the taxpayers billions of dollars.
Fri Apr 4, 2014, 01:20 PM
Apr 2014

Because they allowed the S&L scam to go on long after it should have been stopped. Result: the bailout was much more expensive.

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