Banker Gets 18-Month Prison Term : Fraud: The director of a now-defunct Thousand Oaks bank is sentenced for making false financial statements--the latest chapter in a long history of legal troubles.

A federal judge on Monday sentenced financier Olen Boyce Phillips, the former director of the United Community Bank in Thousand Oaks, to 18 months in prison for misrepresenting his debts on loan applications and in bank statements.

Phillips, 54, pleaded guilty last April to making a false entry into the records of the now-defunct Thousand Oaks bank in 1989. He also pleaded guilty to submitting a false financial statement to obtain a personal loan from Charter Pacific Bank of Agoura Hills.

The charges were originally part of a 12-count indictment filed in 1993 by a grand jury in Los Angeles, which accused Phillips and his banking partner, Phillip L. Chase, of fully understanding their debts when filing for loans with banks in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Both men initially claimed to have greatly underestimated their debts.

Phillips and his attorney could not be reached for comment Monday.

The United Community Bank was shut down in 1989 for lack of funds, and it has since cost taxpayers a total of more than $9 million to cover its federally insured accounts, according to prosecutors.

In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge William D. Keller ordered Phillips, known as O.B., to pay $190,000 in restitution to Charter Pacific Bank and Larry and Wanda Thomas, who had borrowed money from the United Community Bank.

Chase pleaded guilty to one count of federal bank fraud last April, and was sentenced to two years of probation, 200 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine.

Monday’s sentence was the result of a separate probe by the FBI, triggered by the failure of Westlake Thrift, a subsidiary of United Community Bank. That probe led to the convictions of six business people for bank fraud.

The liquidation of Westlake Thrift cost taxpayers about $6 million, according to prosecutors.

A federal jury last December acquitted Chase of one count of filing false documents, but deadlocked on eight other counts against him and Phillips, forcing a mistrial in the case.

The mistrial set the stage for a retrial last March, including additional charges that were filed after further FBI investigation, but Chase and Phillips pleaded guilty to some of the charges last April, and the rest were dropped.

Monday’s sentencing was the latest chapter in a long history of legal problems for Phillips starting in the late 1980s.

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In one of the largest fraud cases in county history, Phillips and Charles Francoeur, 37, were charged in 1992 with defrauding 21 real estate investors out of about $2.9 million.

Although Phillips was subsequently convicted of only one of the 81 counts of grand theft he had faced, a Ventura County judge in May issued a $5.1-million judgment against Phillips in a civil suit related to the same Thousand Oaks real estate deal.

Phillips will probably serve his sentence in Texas, where he now resides, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Brent A. Whittlesey.