Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 27, 1994 TAG: 9401270070
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA LENGTH: Medium
The RTC sued William L. Walde for $20 million, blaming him for the 1991 failure of Trustbank Savings FSB.
The suit said Walde, the thrift's founder and former chairman, repeatedly violated federal regulations by making $88 million in improper loans.
The McLean-based thrift, which operated branches in the Roanoke Valley, loaned the money to a real estate venture headed by Tom Billman, a thrift operator arrested last year in France on charges of looting a Maryland S&L he headed.
The RTC suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, alleges Walde has systematically tried to shield assets from the government, which could seize them to pay some of the thrift's debt.
The suit charges that Walde has transferred ownership of three homes worth more than $5 million to other family members and hidden millions in other assets.
The RTC asked the court to freeze Walde's assets and name a receiver to oversee his finances.
Walde could not be reached for comment Wednesday. His lawyer, Thomas Buchanan, was unavailable, Buchanan's secretary said.
according to documents filed with the suit, Walde once tried to avoid a subpoena seeking his financial records by leading a process server on high-speed chase in his Mercedes 560 coupe. Walde ran stop lights and drove more than 70 mph in a 35-mph zone, the papers said. He was finally forced to stop by a school crossing guard, and the subpoena was placed beneath his windshield wiper.
Walde has told the government he has less than $1 million to settle his debts, but the government claims that he reported a net worth of more than $50 million a few years ago and has moved his money so it cannot be found.
The RTC suit also named as defendants Walde's estranged wife, D. Gay Walde, and seven former Trustbank executives.
Federal regulators repeatedly asked the thrift to stop improper lending practices, but the company's officers ignored them, the suit said.
The RTC seized the failed bank at a cost of more than $20 million to taxpayers.
The RTC suit charges Trustbank's loans to Billman's Equity Programs Investment Corp., or EPIC, were $45 million above what federal law allowed.
EPIC, a real estate tax shelter partnership, went bankrupt in 1988 and Billman was accused of taking $100 million from the Community Savings & Loan Association of Bethesda, Md., an EPIC affiliate.
Billman disappeared for four years before he was arrested last year. He is in jail in Baltimore awaiting trial on federal bank charges.
by CNB