Charles Keating Jr. is a busboy in the prison where he is serving a 10-year sentence for bilking investors of his failed savings and loan, his son-in-law says.
Bradley Boland discussed his father-in-law this week during a break in a U.S. District Court hearing, where a judge postponed until Oct. 20 Keating's trial on federal fraud charges.Boland said Keating, 68, is working three meals a day at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo, setting tables and clearing them after meals.
"He's holding up fine," Boland said. But asked if Keating was fitting into the prison routine, he replied: "No way. He'll never fit in there. He'll never belong."
The trial of Keating, the former owner of Lincoln Savings & Loan Association, and his son, Charles Keating III, had been scheduled for Aug. 4.
The younger Keating's lawyer, Dennis Landin of the public defender's office, said he needed more time to prepare.
Judge Mariana Pfaelzer also agreed to unfreeze a bank account into which Keating's friends and family want to donate money for a defense fund. The money will provide a salary of $3,000 a month to Keating's longtime secretary, Carol D. Kassick, and $6,566.66 a month for travel, accounting and office expenses.
Keating's lawyer, Stephen C. Neal, agreed to provide the names of the donors confidentially to the judge. The prosecutors had said they were worried that money from Keating's victims might be channeled to his defense.
Keating was convicted in state court last December of bilking investors, including many elderly Lincoln depositors. The investors lost more than $250 million when Lincoln was seized by federal regulators and American Continental Corp., its parent company, filed for bankruptcy protection in April 1989.
Keating will be eligible for parole after five years.
In federal court, Keating is charged with 73 counts that carry a maximum prison term of 525 years, said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Sklansky. His son, who is free on bail, is accused of 64 counts with a maximum penalty of 480 years.
Eight Keating associates and family members have pleaded guilty so far in deals with the prosecutors, who accuse Keating of wide-ranging schemes to improperly siphon federally insured funds away from Lincoln and dupe investors who bought bonds issued by American Continental.
Regulators say the failure of Irvine-based Lincoln cost taxpayers $2.6 billion, the most expensive bailout ever.