S&L;'s Jailed Ex-Chief Must Pay $2 Million : Money Was a Dividend Molinaro Paid Himself

S&L;’s Jailed Ex-Chief Must Pay $2 Million : Money Was a Dividend Molinaro Paid Himself

By JANE APPLEGATE

Sept. 2, 1987 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES —

The jailed former president of Ramona Savings and Loan Assn. must return a $2-million dividend he paid himself shortly before federal regulators declared the Orange County institution insolvent a year ago.

U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler ordered John L. Molinaro to pay the money to the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp., a private attorney representing that agency said Tuesday. Last October, Stotler issued a freeze order prohibiting Molinaro from transferring funds out of the country.

However, Molinaro, who was arrested last month in San Francisco when he tried to pick up a passport issued under a false name, has moved at least $6 million to offshore bank accounts, court records said.

Stotler ordered Molinaro to repay the $2-million bonus “to avoid the harsh and unjust result that the possibility of collecting the $2 million . . . will be destroyed by Molinaro’s violation of this court’s previous orders.”

Richard L. Fruin Jr., a Los Angeles attorney representing the FSLIC, said the government insurance fund acted to obtain a final judgment for the $2 million after Molinaro was arrested.

He said the agency has also obtained court orders freezing millions of dollars that Molinaro secretly deposited in banks in the Cayman, Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean. And, using search warrants executed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FSLIC found currency and gold in a Wells Fargo bank account in Los Gatos, Santa Clara County. Fruin said that account was opened in the name of John Anthony Cook, a dead man whose identity Molinaro had adopted before applying for a new passport.

In a related development, Molinaro’s attorneys have asked Stotler to stay all the civil proceedings until after the FBI completes its criminal investigation into the downfall of Ramona S&L.; Stotler set a Sept. 14 hearing on that request.

Molinaro is in federal custody in San Francisco. His attorneys could not be reached for comment Tuesday.