When Marvin Warner walks out of an Ohio state prison, he will walk into a life of retirement on a luxurious, bluegrass horse farm in Florida.
The man who from the very beginning has described himself as "the biggest victim of them all" in the 1985 collapse of Home State Savings will enjoy:- Warnerton Farm in Ocala, Fla. Together with the adjoining farm owned by his son, the property is estimated to be worth more than $5 million.
- Up to $3 milion in life insurance policies.
- His interest in whatever assets he owns jointly with his wife, Jody.
And, because Warner has decided to make his official residence in Florida rather than in Ohio, Florida's generous "homestead" law bars his creditors from touching any of this.
Even Florida's own lawmakers are outraged.
"This is an example of something that was once a pretty good policy, but which as times have changed, has been carried to the ridiculous and the extreme," said State Rep. Robert D. Trammell, chairman of the Florida legislature's judiciary committee and a long-time critic of the homestead exemption.
Warner owned Home State Savings Bank and went to jail as a result of its 1985 collapse. When Home State folded, it left his depositors without any of their money, in some cases without their life savings. Depositors ultimately were reimbursed by the state, but many suffered in the interim.
At one time there were an estimated $4.4 billion in unpaid creditors' claims against Warner. And the state of Ohio still has a $12 million claim against him for taxpayers' funds used to back up the failed Home State.
But Warner has been declared bankrupt. And under Florida's homestead law, bankrupt debtors can shelter unlimited funds in homes on up to 160 acres of land.
Had he chosen to live in Ohio, however, all but $1,000 of his assets would be subject to seizure to pay his debts.
In 1988, Mrs. Warner said when she and Warner decided to buy the Ocala farm "no consideration" was given to the state's homestead protections.
Warner, who once owned a horse farm in Clermont County, moved his breeding operations to Ocala just after Home State collapsed. He said he moved because the land was better for horse breeding.
Price Waterhouse, the accounting firm that spent two years tracing Warner's assets for his bankruptcy action, estimated the family is worth "globally" $8 million to $12 million. Most of this is no longer in Warner's name but in the names of his wife and children.
Warner is being released, probably today, after serving 28 months with time off for good behavior.