Keating Prosecution Seen as a Waste of $3 Billion
* In a knee-jerk reaction, Charles H. Keating Jr. was prosecuted for “securities fraud” because people lost money on their investments [“Supreme Court Lets Keating Case Dismissal Stand,” Oct. 3]. Risky does not equal fraudulent--don’t you think Keating would have loved to make millions, too.
Yet, Los Angeles County District Atty. Bill Hodgman and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lance Ito thought otherwise and not only caused the incarceration of Keating but also cost the taxpayers $3 billion. Every court ruled against Hodgman and yet he persisted in wasting more taxpayers’ money all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court in his quest to convict Keating.
Is this the same Bill Hodgman who had a ghost of a chance to win a conviction against O.J. Simpson in Lance Ito’s court?
STEPHANY YABLOW
Sherman Oaks
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