BANKING / FINANCE : Irvine Lawyer Cited in S&L; Fraud Pays FDIC $1.1 Million to Settle

Eric C. Bronk, an Irvine lawyer accused by federal regulators of fraud and racketeering in the 1986 collapse of Consolidated Savings Bank, has agreed to pay a government agency $1.1 million to settle the civil lawsuit.

Bronk also agreed to drop his suit against regulators in which he charged they wrongfully seized records from his law office the night the Irvine thrift was seized. Consolidated was later closed.

At the time, Bronk, who did not return telephone calls seeking comment, was a lawyer for Consolidated owner Robert A. Ferrante of Newport Beach and a consultant to the savings and loan.

Besides giving $1.1 million to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Bronk and two of his companies also must turn over to the FDIC any claims they had to an unspecified sum of money in an account at a Los Angeles bank.

The terms of the settlement, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, was part of a series of recent settlements that closed out the government’s civil case against all directors and officers of Consolidated. The FDIC, however, has refused to provide details of the other settlements.

The FDIC has also refused a Freedom of Information Act request to turn over recent settlements of lawsuits involving owners, directors and officers of American Diversified Savings Bank in Costa Mesa, which also was seized in 1986.

The FBI is continuing to investigate the two failed thrifts for possible criminal bank fraud and embezzlement. The two institutions are among the agency’s seven top-priority probes of failed thrifts.