P.M. BRIEFING : Keating Enters Not Guilty Plea
Charles H. Keating Jr., the former owner of failed Lincoln Savings and Loan, pleaded not guilty Friday to fraud charges stemming from the sale of $250 million of now-worthless junk bonds.
“Absolutely not guilty,” Keating replied when asked to enter his plea at an arraignment in Superior Court on 42 counts accusing him of lying to federal regulators and duping more than 22,000 investors into buying the high-risk uninsured bonds.
His three co-defendants also all pleaded innocent.
Keating, who has become a symbol of the nation’s savings and loan scandal, has been held in Los Angeles County Jail since Sept. 18 in lieu of $5 million bail.
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