Keating Jury Rehears Bond Sale Testimony

The jurors in the securities fraud case against Charles H. Keating Jr. asked Tuesday for testimony to be read to them from a customer who bought a $100,000 bond in Keating’s company and from the saleswoman who sold him the risky bond.

In their second day of deliberations, the jurors decided that they needed to have their memories refreshed about the November, 1988, transaction involving Robert J. Evans of Laguna Beach and Beverly Figeira, the former bond saleswoman for Keating’s American Continental Corp.

Evans is one of the bondholders named in 18 counts that accuse Keating of defrauding small investors who purchased bonds at the company’s main subsidiary, Irvine-based Lincoln Savings & Loan.

Those bondholders are among the thousands who lost more than $250 million after Keating’s empire collapsed in April, 1989.

Evans said that before he purchased the bond, he was never told about concerns that thrift regulators had with Keating’s operation of Lincoln Savings & Loan or about the $36-million loss that American Continental incurred for the third quarter of 1988.

But Figeira said that Evans interrupted her sales presentation, saying he already knew everything about the bonds and the company from Lincoln’s president, Ray C. Fidel, and Fidel’s wife, whom Evans said he knew. Evans had denied interrupting her.

Jurors were to resume their third day of deliberations today.