Fraud in the Savings and Loan Industry in California, Florida, Texas, and Washington, DC:  White-Collar Crime and Government Response, 1986-1993

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of
the factors that contributed to the epidemic of fraud in the savings
and loan ("thrift") industry, the role that white-collar crime played,
and the government response to this crisis. The researchers sought to
describe the magnitude, role, and nature of thrift crime, analyze
factors related to the effectiveness of law enforcement control of
savings and loan fraud, and develop the broader implications, from
both a theoretical and a policy perspective. Data consist of
statistics from various government agencies and focus on all types of
thrift, i.e., solvent and insolvent, that fell under the jurisdiction
of the Office of Thrift Supervision in Florida, Texas, and California
and all insolvent thrifts under the control of the Resolution Trust
Corporation (RTC) in Washington, DC. The study focused on Texas,
California, and Florida because of the high numbers of savings and
loan failures, instances of fraud, and executives being
indicted. However, as the study progressed, it became clear that the
frauds and failures were nationwide, and while many of the crimes were
located in these three states, the individuals involved may have been
located elsewhere. Thus, the scope of the study was expanded to
provide a national perspective. Parts 1 and 2, Case and Defendant
Data, provide information from the Executive Office of United States
Attorneys on referrals, investigations, and prosecutions of thrifts,
banks, and other financial institutions. Part 1 consists of data about
the cases that were prosecuted, the number of institutions victimized,
the state in which these occurred, and the seriousness of the offense
as indicated by the dollar loss and the number of victims. Part 2
provides information on the defendant's position in the institution
(director, officer, employee, borrower, customer, developer, lawyer,
or shareholder) and disposition (fines, restitution, prison,
probation, or acquittal). The relevant variables associated with the
Resolution Trust Corporation (Part 3, Institution Data) describe
indictments, convictions, and sentences for all cases in the
respective regions, organizational structure and behavior for a single
institution, and the estimated loss to the institution. Variables
coded are ownership type, charter, home loans, brokered deposits, net
worth, number of referrals, number of individuals referred, assets and
asset growth, ratio of direct investments to total assets, and total
dollar losses due to fraud. For Parts 4 and 5, Texas and California
Referral Data, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) provided data
for what are called Category I referrals for California and
Texas. Part 4 covers Category I referrals for Texas. Variables include
the individual's position in the institution, the number of referrals,
and the sum of dollar losses from all referrals. Part 5 measures the
total dollar losses due to fraud in California, the total number of
criminal referrals, and the number of individuals indicted.