Figure in S&L; Crisis Kills Self in Florida

A lawyer who figured in the dispute over the far-reaching collapse of a Fort Lauderdale securities company killed himself in his home, police reported today.

A police statment said Stephen Arky, 42, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head Monday morning at his home in suburban Coral Gables.

Arky was the son-in-law of Cincinnati financier Marvin Warner, who controlled Home State Savings Bank. Home State closed earlier this year after a run by depositors alarmed over revelations of substantial investments with ESM Securities Inc. of Fort Lauderdale.

The Home State shutdown in turn triggered Ohio’s thrift crisis. Sixty-nine institutions were closed temporarily.

ESM collapsed March 4 when the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that the firm misled investors with false financial reports while hiding about $200 million in losses over nine years.

Arky was the founding partner of a 55-attorney law firm in Miami and counted ESM among his clients.

Thomas Tew, ESM’s court-appointed trustee, said in an interim receiver’s report that Arky was a potential ESM insider and suggested that Arky profited because of his link to the firm.

Arky, who served as staff attorney for the SEC from 1968 to 1971, denied it.