WASHINGTON The Supreme Court has let stand a ruling that had overturned the state fraud convictions of former thrift executive Charles H. Keating Jr.
The justices refused Monday to reinstate the convictions, which were overturned last year by a federal trial judge and by the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco. That court had ruled that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lance Ito had wrongly allowed the jury to convict Mr. Keating without deciding whether he intended to swindle investors.
Mr. Keating, the former chairman of Lincoln Savings and Loan of California, was convicted in 1991 on 17 counts of securities fraud and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was convicted of selling millions of dollars of unsecured junk bonds that were later determined to be worthless.
A federal court had convicted him on separate charges, which were overturned after it was learned that the jury knew of the state convictions and discussed them in their deliberations.
Mr. Keating pleaded guilty this year to three federal counts of wire fraud and one count of bankruptcy fraud. He was sentenced to time already served.
