S&L; Ex-Employee to Pay Restitution

Apparently he was a man with champagne tastes and a beer budget.

Rickie K. Miyake had amassed an impressive wine collection, but it all turned sour when Union Federal Savings Bank and regulators realized that he had embezzled $360,000 from the thrift to support his expensive hobby.

The U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision said Friday that Miyake, without admitting liability, had signed an agreement to pay restitution to his former employer and to be banished from the industry for life.

Miyake was a vice president and controller of Union Federal’s Brea-based real estate development subsidiary, Uni-Cal Financial Corp., when he left in August, 1991, after the embezzlement was discovered.

For four years, Miyake had used Uni-Cal checks to make direct payments to wine merchants, then removed the canceled checks from the Uni-Cal’s files. The wines ranged in price from $10 to $325, the OTS said.

Uni-Cal recouped $185,000 of the money in an auction last September of nearly 3,500 bottles, which Miyake had turned over as partial restitution. Miyake also paid $177,691 in cash to the thrift.

“I take full responsibility for my actions,” said Miyake, now an accountant in Burbank. “I became so involved in collecting wine that I lost sight of what I was doing. I don’t collect wine anymore, and I barely ever even drink it. I want to put this whole thing behind me.”

Union Federal, based in Los Angeles, and its parent company, UnionFed Financial Corp. of Brea, have been battling mounting red ink and trying to comply with OTS orders to raise more capital. UnionFed lost nearly $6 million in its fiscal first quarter, ended Sept. 30, and $86.8 million in its previous two fiscal years.

Most of the problems stem from Uni-Cal investments that have lost value as the real estate market has crashed during the long recession.

UnionFed executives could not be reached for comment.