
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 19, 1990                   TAG: 9007190265
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF.                                LENGTH: Medium

LUXURY HOME OF FIGURE IN S&L FAILURE REPORTED

A key figure in the collapse of Silverado Savings & Loan lives in a $1.9 million home despite telling a congressional committee he was broke, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

Developer Bill L. Walters, 44, also is a former business associate of Neil Bush, President Bush's son and a former director of Denver-based Silverado. Investigators say Walters' default on $96 million in real estate loans extended by Silverado contributed to the thrift's collapse.

A trust for Walters' wife, Jacqueline, purchased the $1.9 million estate near Newport Bay for the couple in February, according to Orange County records reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

State records also show Jacqueline Walters bought a mobile home on prime oceanfront property in Laguna Beach for $250,000, the newspaper reported.

Federal regulators seized Silverado in December 1988. Its failure is expected to cost taxpayers more than $1 billion.

During a House Banking Committee hearing on Silverado's failure, Walters was asked last month about his financial condition.

"I have a negative net worth," he testified.

Documents filed with the Orange County recorder's office indicate the luxurious Newport Beach home was purchased by the Walters Trust I, of which Jacqueline Walters is the beneficiary.

The mobile home in the beachfront El Morro Beach Mobile Home Park also is listed in Jacqueline Walters' name, the Times reported.

Walters could not be reached immediately for comment Wednesday by The Associated Press. There was no public listing of Walters' residential and business telephone numbers.

He moved to Orange County five months ago to begin anew in the real estate business, the Times said. But the Orange County Board of Realtors said Wednesday he was not listed with the organization.

Congressmen reacted angrily at word of the home.

"The government should immediately take action to file claims against all of Mr. Walters' property so the taxpayers can get their money back," said Rep. Frank Annunzio, D-Ill., chairman of the Housing Financial Institutions subcommittee.

by CNB