Former Family S&L; Chief Gets 7-Year Sentence

The former head of Family Savings & Loan was sentenced Monday to more than seven years in prison stemming from his conviction on charges that he used an elaborate scheme to buy control of the Los Angeles-based thrift in 1987 with its own money.

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real sentenced Oliver A. Trigg Jr. to seven years and three months in prison and ordered him to begin serving the sentence July 1. Trigg’s attorney, Harriet Hawkins, could not be reached for comment Monday but had previously indicated that Trigg plans to appeal the conviction.

A jury on Feb. 19 convicted Trigg of secretly using a dummy company he controlled to sell land in Whittier to Family Savings at an inflated price. The jury decided that Trigg used his position on the thrift’s board to arrange the transaction. The jury concluded that Trigg used $1.7 million of a $2.7-million profit from the sale to buy controlling interest in Family, one of the nation’s largest black-owned thrifts.

Trigg, 40, of Los Angeles was found guilty of conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering and tax fraud. He was indicted on those charges in September, 1990.