BANKING & FINANCE - June 10, 1992

Bankers’ Trial Begins: Former thrift owner Robert A. Ferrante and five others will go on trial today in federal court on conspiracy and fraud charges stemming from the operation of now-defunct Consolidated Savings Bank in Irvine. The six, indicted after a five-year FBI investigation, have decided to forgo a jury trial. Instead, they will be tried before U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer in Los Angeles on 17 counts accusing them of criminal wrongdoing in two transactions. Ferrante and Ottavio A. Angotti, the tiny S&L;’s chairman, president and chief executive, face 70 years in prison if convicted. The other defendants face 10 to 60 years. Consolidated was seized by regulators and closed in 1986. Its failure is expected to cost taxpayers $30 million.