BANKING & FINANCE - June 23, 1992

Touche, Ross & Co. Settles Keating Case: Touche, Ross & Co., now known as Deloitte & Touche, the last major accounting firm left in the $1.2-billion securities fraud case brought by small investors in Charles H. Keating Jr.’s financial empire, settled for $8.5 million in cash and services--just as it was about to present a defense at trial. The firm will pay $7.5 million in cash and provide $1 million worth of services to the investors. Keating’s Lincoln Savings & Loan in Irvine, which collapsed in April, 1989, is the nation’s worst thrift failure, costing taxpayers an estimated $2.6 billion. The small investors lost more than $285 million in the bankruptcy of its parent company, American Continental Corp.