Judge Grants 2 Immunity for Bank Case Testimony

Two men were granted immunity from prosecution Tuesday in exchange for their testimony before a special federal grand jury reportedly investigating loan activities at Sunwest Bank in Tustin.

U.S. District Judge Pamela Ann Rymer ordered Morton Goodman, a convicted bookmaker from the San Fernando Valley, and Irving Page, a Los Angeles businessman, to testify Thursday before the grand jury. Rymer granted immunity to both men, who had refused to testify.

A third man, Theodore Kelly of Palm Springs, previously agreed to testify in exchange for immunity, according to federal prosecutors.

Ariadne Symons, an attorney for the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Strike Force in Los Angeles, which is coordinating the investigation, refused to comment on the nature of the grand jury’s probe or confirm any specific bank’s involvement.

$1 Million Worth of Loans

But Laurence Ring, an attorney representing Page, said the grand jury was investigating about $1 million in loans made by Sunwest Bank.

Sunwest Bank officials declined to comment on the investigation. Stewart R. Suchman, a Newport Beach attorney representing Sunwest, said in response to press inquiries that the bank had asked him to determine whether an investigation was under way.

“It’s really too early to say anything,” Suchman said.

Ring said Page will testify about a $25,000 loan Sunwest Bank made to him for a business venture. Page “just happened to have known some of the same people who are being investigated,” Ring said.

The grand jurors, he said, “want to question him (Page) about what he knows about some other people.” Ring said he believed that the loans in question involved less than $1 million.

Some Subpoenaed

“I can’t say what the scope of the prosecution is, but certain individuals with the bank have been subpoenaed,” Ring said.

A year ago, Sunwest Bank’s new owners sued the former chairman and four directors, alleging that they negligently operated the bank and misrepresented its condition before selling it for $10.75 million. The bank and its parent company, Centennial Beneficial Corp. of Orange, also sued the accounting firm of Ernst and Whinney.

The suit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, said damages exceeded $5 million. Centennial alleged that the directors, before selling the bank in June, 1985, falsely represented that the bank was profitable.