San Diego Area Developer Ousted as S&L; Chairman

Frank Domingues, a San Diego area developer being sued by federal regulators in connection with the collapse last year of San Marino Savings & Loan Assn., has been ousted as chairman of Costa Mesa-based South Bay S&L;, industry sources said Wednesday.

In an unpublicized pact with the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp., Domingues agreed to resign as a South Bay director, to place his 80% share of the company’s stock in a blind trust and to sell the shares over the next three years.

Domingues also was barred from serving in a management position with any federally insured S&L; without first obtaining FSLIC approval, sources said.

In addition to ousting Domingues, the FSLIC named him as a defendant in a $50-million fraud suit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in February. That suit claims that Domingues, his former partner, Jack Bona, and 35 of their companies were involved in receiving $194 million in fraudulently obtained loans from San Marino before it was seized by federal regulators in February, 1984.

South Bay opened for business in May, 1983, with savings branches in Gardena and Newport Beach and executive offices in Costa Mesa. The S&L; has grown to $94 million in assets and is considered to be one of the Southland’s best-run and most profitable S&Ls;, according to industry analyst Barry Reuben of Santa Monica-based California Research Corp.

The Domingues ouster, sources said, does not indicate regulatory displeasure with the management or operation of South Bay.

The sources said the agreement between Domingues and FSLIC was signed last November, just as the agency liquidated San Marino S&L.;