Molinaro is Accused of Fraud in Attempted Sale of Ramona Savings

Federal authorities filed criminal fraud charges Friday against John L. Molinaro, owner and ousted head of the failed Ramona Savings & Loan Assn., alleging that he illegally received $6.4 million of S&L; funds in an attempt to sell the Orange-based institution in early 1986.

Molinaro, already in jail on charges stemming from his alleged attempt to obtain a phony passport in July, is believed to be the first former S&L; executive from more than 20 failed Southern California savings institutions to face criminal charges relating to the collapse of an S&L.;

He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, said Harriet Leva Beegun, an assistant U.S. attorney.

Molinaro’s attorney in San Francisco could not be reached for comment Friday.

The complaint Beegun filed in federal court claims that Molinaro and three others met in January, 1986, to discuss how one of them, Donald W. Stump, would buy Ramona for $7.2 million. The complaint identified the others at the meeting as Donald P. Mangano Sr., a former partner in Ramona, and Robert F. Copeland, one of Stump’s longtime business associates.

Of those named in the complaint, only Molinaro was charged with committing a crime.

The complaint alleges that the four men agreed that Molinaro would authorize Ramona to make loans to Copeland and his brother, Jerry L. Copeland, and to Copeland associates and companies.

The Copelands, according to the complaint, then would “make a substantial portion of the (loan) proceeds available to Stump” so Stump could buy the S&L; from Molinaro.

Between Jan. 28 and Feb. 13, 1986, Molinaro authorized Ramona to make $12 million in loans to the Copelands, the complaint said. Beegun said the S&L; actually disbursed $10.15 million of the authorized limit to the Copelands. Of that amount, $6.4 million was paid to Stump, according to the complaint.

Stump then paid Molinaro $5 million, put $1.3 million in an escrow account and added to it $900,000 he got from Molinaro in a separate deal, the complaint states. Of the original $6.4 million he received from the Copelands, Stump kept $100,000 for himself, according to a separate civil suit filed by regulators last year.

Then, on May 7, 1986, acting on Stump’s instructions, the escrow agent transferred the $2.2 million to Molinaro, according to the complaint.

State and federal regulators thwarted the sale of Ramona in July, 1987, by refusing to allow Stump to take over the institution. Stump served about three days as president before stepping down.

The criminal complaint comes 10 days after a federal judge hearing the civil case in Los Angeles ordered Molinaro to repay the $6.4 million he received in the attempted sale. The judge said the evidence showed that Molinaro’s “liability is certain.”

State and federal regulators declared Ramona insolvent on Sept. 12, 1986, closed it and transferred its assets to a newly chartered Ramona Federal Savings, which managers hired by the regulators are operating.

Regulators have obtained court orders freezing Molinaro’s assets, including about $3 million believed to be deposited at banks in two Caribbean nations.

Molinaro, who was removed as head of Ramona when federal regulators took over, was arrested in July as he was picking up a passport bearing a false name and was planning to travel to the Caribbean, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco.