Capital Briefs: FDIC Drops Claim Against Ex-Thrift Chief

Ernest M. Fleischer, former chairman of Franklin Savings Association in Ottawa, Kan., is off the hook for $100 million in damages sought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Negligence charges against Mr. Fleischer and two other people associated with Franklin were dismissed May 16 after a federal jury in Kansas City found them not guilty. The Office of Thrift Supervision seized Franklin Savings in 1990 and alleged Mr. Fleischer engaged in unsound underwriting practices. The FDIC took over the case when the Resolution Trust Corp. was dissolved in 1995.

Still pending are two suits brought by Mr. Fleischer, alleging the federal government unjustly seized the thrift.

In 1992 the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a claim by the parent company of Franklin Savings that the government seized the thrift without due process or just compensation.

Franklin Savings was taken over by the Office of Thrift Supervision amid controversy over the value of the mortgage securities it used to hedge interest-rate risk.

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