Goodwin Gets 30 Months for Misleading Banks

Michael Goodwin, the former business partner of slain racing promoter Mickey Thompson, was sentenced Monday to 30 months in federal prison for making false statements to three banks while trying to borrow nearly $400,000.

U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor ordered that Goodwin be taken into custody immediately to start serving his sentence.

But the judge said that Goodwin’s ex-wife, Diane Seidel, who was sentenced to a 16-month prison term for committing the same offense, will be allowed to remain free pending an appeal.

Goodwin and Seidel were each convicted in October on 13 of 15 counts of conspiracy and making false statements in 1986.

Goodwin has been the only person publicly named by police as a suspect in the 1988 slayings of Thompson and his wife, Trudy, in front of the couple’s home in the San Gabriel Valley city of Bradbury. Goodwin has repeatedly denied any involvement in the killings.

In addition to the 30-month sentence, Taylor ordered Goodwin to pay about $290,000 in restitution.

In a brief statement before the judge, Goodwin maintained his innocence, but failed to persuade the judge to allow him to remain free on bail and help prepare his appeal and spend time with his elderly parents.

He offered a special apology to his ex-wife, who has been successfully battling cancer during recent years, for mistakes he said were made unknowingly.

“She relied on me to know what was right and wrong, and I failed,” he told the judge.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Elana Shavit Artson said the criminal charges arose from a $500,000 line of credit that Goodwin and Seidel obtained from Southern California Bank in April 1986 to promote motorcycle events.

The couple did not repay the loan, Artson said, and subsequently applied for loans totaling $350,000 from three other banks by submitting several financial statements that failed to disclose the outstanding bank loan.

The partnership between Goodwin and Thompson dissolved into a bitter feud that ended when Thompson obtained a state court judgment of about $500,000 against Goodwin and his stadium Motorsports Corp. That judgment pushed Goodwin into personal bankruptcy, according to Artson.

Goodwin’s attorney, James A. Frieden, maintained in court that the couple fully intended to repay the debts and did not try to mislead anyone.