The Justice Department said Monday it has charged more than 1,100 people so far in nearly four years of prosecuting the multibillion-dollar savings and loan scandal, winning 905 convictions but less than half a billion dollars in restitution.
The department, in a release containing statistical information about the major savings and loan prosecutions, said 905 of 1,188 people charged in the scandal had been convicted in cases between Oct. 1, 1988, and June 30, 1992. Only 71 defendants were ac-quit-ted.The cases prosecuted represented $8.3 billion in losses to the thrifts. Of the 750 cases in which sentences have been handed down, judges imposed $11.2 million in fines and ordered $439 million in restitution. They ordered prison terms for 582 defendants but let off 168 without jail time.
Among those charged, 137 were chief executive officers, board chairmen or presidents of savings and loan institutions. Of the high-level executives charged, 102 were convicted and 10 were acquitted. The Justice Department said 166 of the 195 other thrift officers charged were convicted while seven were acquitted.
The department said the statistics covered only those cases in which the fraud involved $100,000 or more, the defendant was a director or owner of the thrift or there were multiple borrowers involved.