Keating Financial Filing, a Day Late, Will Be Kept Confidential

Charles H. Keating Jr., facing the possibility of being cited for contempt of court, filed an accounting of his personal finances with federal regulators late Tuesday, a day after missing a court-imposed deadline to do so.

Keating, former chairman of American Continental Corp., the parent of failed Irvine-based Lincoln Savings, had been ordered last week by U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson to comply with a government order to disclose his assets to the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Because Keating failed to make that filing by the Monday deadline, regulators had been considering asking Wilson to issue a contempt citation, OTS spokesman William Fulwider said.

Fulwider would not comment on whether the contents of Keating’s filing had satisfied the requirements of the order. The contents of Keating’s filing will be confidential, Fulwider said.

Keating, who made a fortune in Arizona real estate and bought Lincoln in 1984, has claimed that he is broke.

Attorneys for Keating were not immediately available for comment.

Separately, U.S. District Judge Richard Bilby of Phoenix named Thomas Arnold, a Phoenix real estate developer, as the “temporary responsible party” for American Continental. He said no other appointments for American Continental were made at the hearing, which was held to name someone to supervise the company after Keating’s resignation last week as chairman and chief executive of the company.

Bilby said Arnold will hold the temporary position until Sept. 7, when the committee will petition the court for Arnold to be named the “permanent responsible party,” Donald Gaffney, an attorney for American Continental’s creditors committee, said.