Amid the decaying opulence of Charles Keating Jr.'s former home is a pointed reminder of why he isn't here: a bedroom safe covered with yellow tape saying "Evidence."
The jailed financier's two-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot house, replete with marble, gold fixtures and crystal doorknobs, was scheduled for sale at a sheriff's auction Thursday.As his legal troubles mounted, Keating moved out of the 5.4-acre compound in this exclusive enclave within Phoenix, the city he dominated as a flamboyant land developer and banker.
Bank of America obtained a foreclosure judgment Oct. 21 after Keating and his wife, Mary Elaine, stopped paying the $2.2 million mortgage.
Keating, 68, former chairman of Phoenix-based American Continental Corp., was convicted in California last year on state charges of swindling investors and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The collapse of his Irvine, Calif.-based Lincoln Savings subsidiary cost taxpayers an unprecedented $2.6 billion.
He is on trial in federal court in Los Angeles for allegedly duping investors to fuel his life of luxury.
On Wednesday, his son-in-law testified about years of business successes as Keating launched his defense.
Robert M. Wurzelbacher Jr. told jurors Wednesday how Keating's Phoenix-based American Continental Corp. sold more than $1.4 billion in real estate before the empire collapsed in 1989 with the seizure of its Lincoln Savings subsidiary.
The success stories outlined by Wurzelbacher, who was also a top real estate aide to Keating, opened the defense at Keating's federal fraud and racketeering trial. The defense portrays him as a victim of an Arizona real estate bust and vindictive government officials.
Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday - a month after they began - against Keating and his son, Charles H. Keating III.
Pigeons now roost on the red-tile eaves of Keating's Spanish Santa Barbara-style home. Dead cockroaches litter the marble floor, which includes a multicolored sun that stretches across the foyer floor.
The bathrooms are decorated with pink marble and furnished with large whirlpool baths. The doors have gold moldings. Some crystal doorknobs remain, but a chandelier has been removed.
Behind the three-car garage, family names and birth dates are written in the concrete sidewalk. Beside a drawing of a champagne glass is the inscription "CHK Jr. 12-4-23."
A yellow tape reading "Evidence: The Federal Bureau of Investigation" crisscrosses a bedroom safe.