A selected summary of Southern California-related business litigation developments during the past week.

Ex-FDIC Worker Admits Stealing Checks: A former accounting technician with the FDIC pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges relating to a scheme to cash more than $5,000 in stolen traveler’s checks from a failed bank. After a half-day trial in U.S. District Court, Mark Awanyai, 31, of Long Beach, admitted that he conspired to commit bank fraud and to transport and cash forged traveler’s checks during interstate commerce. A co-defendant in the case, Christopher Ahuzi, 33, also of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. Prosecutors alleged that Awanyai participated in the closing of the Bank of Ruidoso, New Mexico, and stole traveler’s checks listed as shredded by the FDIC, then cashed them in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Awanyai faces a maximum penalty of 35 years imprisonment and a $1-million fine. Ahuzi faces a maximum penalty of 45 years in prison and a $1.75-million fine at their sentencing in May. (Case No. 91-38. Guilty pleas entered Feb. 26.)