FarWest Savings President, Chief Financial Officer Fired

The president of FarWest Savings & Loan has been fired for unspecified reasons, and his chief financial officer has been dismissed for making unauthorized investments, the attorney for the thrift’s parent company said Friday.

President Victor H. Indiek and Chief Financial Officer Robert D. Struck were terminated Tuesday, said Kurt C. Kemper, general counsel for FarWest Financial in Los Angeles.

Operation of the Newport Beach-based S&L; was turned over, at least temporarily, to Charles H. Green, chief financial officer of FarWest Financial.

“Mr. Struck was terminated for engaging in unauthorized investments,” Kemper said. “We have no reason to believe, however, that there is any loss as a result of his actions.”

He said Struck had moved about $85 million from government securities into certificates of deposit at three large S&Ls.;

“Every bank and S&L; has strict policies about investing depositor funds, and he violated those policies,” Kemper said.

Struck declined to comment on the advice of his lawyer, Fred T. Ashley, who also refused to comment. Indiek could not be reached.

Kemper would not comment on the reason for Indiek’s dismissal.

Sources said that Indiek was dismissed because he was held accountable for Struck’s action.

Lawyers for FarWest and Indiek are negotiating a settlement of Indiek’s multi-year contract, Kemper said.

Indiek, who was hired in August, had been one of the chief financial officers and one of six senior executive vice presidents at Financial Corp. of America, the now-bankrupt Irvine firm that once owned American Savings & Loan.

After taking the reins at FarWest Savings, Indiek hired some of his colleagues from FCA/American, including Struck, who had left FCA in 1987.