BANKING

Keating Jury Begins Deliberations: A federal jury in Tucson began deliberating in a $1.2-billion civil fraud suit that accuses Charles H. Keating Jr. and others of cheating thousands of people who invested in his savings and loan company. Jurors are to decide if the Saudi European Investment Corp., Arizona developer Conley Wolfswinkel and Continental Southern Inc. violated federal and California securities laws, federal and Arizona racketeering statutes and fraud and deceit laws. The trial judge has already found that Keating committed such violations. The trial stems from two combined class-action suits filed on behalf of more than 20,000 investors who claimed losses of $288.7 million after the collapse of Keating’s Phoenix-based American Continental Corp.