Court Overturns Conviction of Key Figure in Ohio S&L; Case
A state appeals court Wednesday overturned the bank fraud conviction of Marvin Warner, a key figure in the 1985 crisis that struck savings and loan associations in Ohio.
The court overturned Warner’s conviction on charges unauthorized transfer of funds and other acts, as well as an order that he pay $22 million in restitution.
Ohio Atty. Gen. Anthony Celebrezze said he would appeal the ruling to the state’s supreme court because it was based on technicalities. He said Ohio had already spent $5.5 million prosecuting the case and would continue to pursue it.
Warner, a former U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, was sentenced to 42 months in jail but has been free on bond and living in Florida while the appeal was processed.
Warner was convicted in 1987 of illegally diverting millions of dollars from a Cincinnati savings association to a securities trading company.
The collapse of Warner’s Home State Savings Bank, then the state’s largest privately insured savings and loan, caused a run on other savings and loans in Ohio, forcing state officials to close 71 institutions until stability returned.
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