Capital briefs: Owners of Failed Thrift Fined $8.5 Million

A husband and wife who owned a California thrift that failed in 1991 have agreed to pay $8.5 million to the Resolution Trust Corp. and be banned from banking for life.

The Office of Thrift Supervision accused Russell and Rebecca Jedinak of taking low-interest and no-interest loans from Guardian Savings and Loan of Huntington Beach, Calif., and paying for personal items and travel with the thrift's money. Mr. Jedinak was owner, president, and chairman of the $682 million-asset institution; Mrs. Jedinak was senior executive vice president and board secretary.

The Jedinaks neither admitted to nor denied the charges. As part of the settlement, which was announced Monday, they dropped a lawsuit they had filed against the RTC, while the RTC agreed to return about $1 million in pension fund money to them.

"We decided to resolve all potential claims just to avoid the costs of litigation and interruptions in our lives and to our business," Mr. Jedinak said.

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