Neil Bush Ends Fight With Regulators

After more than a year of legal haggling, President Bush’s son, Neil, has decided to end his fight with federal regulators in his savings and loan case.

Neil Bush won’t appeal the government’s April order imposing mild restrictions on him if he again becomes a director of a bank or S&L;, his attorney said Tuesday. “He wants to put everything behind him,” James Nesland said.

Nesland said the final settlement Tuesday of a separate yet related lawsuit, in which Bush was a defendant, made his client decide not to appeal the conflict-of-interest order. Nesland has represented Bush in both cases.

In that settlement, a federal judge in Denver approved the previously announced agreement by which former directors and officers of Silverado Banking, Savings & Loan Assn. will pay the government $49.5 million to settle a civil suit brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That suit alleged negligence in the $1-billion collapse of Denver-based Silverado.

A large part of Bush’s legal fees--estimated to total $250,000 or more--are being covered by a special fund set up by former Rep. Thomas Ashley, a banking lobbyist who is a longtime friend of President Bush. The fund has received contributions from members of the Bush family and from family friends, Ashley said recently.

Timothy Ryan, director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, ruled in April that Bush, 36, engaged in conflicts of interest as a director of a failed Colorado thrift. Ryan could have barred Bush from the banking and savings industry but opted for the mildest penalty available--allowing Bush to take such a job again under certain conditions.

Bush repeatedly has denied any wrongdoing in his role as a director of Silverado. Before Ryan issued the order, Nesland had said his client would appeal such sanctions.

Bush also was a defendant in the FDIC lawsuit. The settlement of that suit calls for the defendants to pay the government $26.5 million. The remaining $23 million will come from the transfer to the government of Silverado’s special indemnity fund.

Christopher Lane, managing partner of Sherman & Howard, Silverado’s main law firm and a defendant in the suit, said the $26.5 million would be paid from insurance policies carried by Sherman & Howard and Richard F. Vitkus, also a defendant.

The defendants will have to reimburse the insurance companies for part of the costs, said another attorney familiar with the case who requested anonymity.