Savings And Loan

It took only two words: "management difficulties."Boom.Like a mushroom cloud over Baltimore, news of problems at Old Court Savings and Loan drove people from their homes in a stampede to withdraw their money, creating a spectacle outside thrift branches as depositors towed lawn chairs, umbrellas, coolers, novels, pizzas, backgammon sets, thermos bottles and portable radios."

USF&G Corp., stung by a $788,000 jury award in a bad-faith lawsuit in Alabama, has turned around and sued the savings and loan that filed the case against it.The Baltimore insurer last month lost the initial case filed by one of its customers, SouthFirst Bankshares, of Sylacauga, Ala. A jury determined that USF&G had acted in bad faith by failing to pay SouthFirst's claim for embezzlement losses by one of its employees. The jury awarded SouthFirst $688,000 in compensation, and $100,000 in punitive damages.

WASHINGTON -- When President Clinton announced last year that he had picked John H. Dalton to be secretary of the Navy, he praised the nominee's "true leadership ability" as a Texas businessman.The resume made public by the White House was impressive: Naval Academy graduate with distinction, service in the Navy on two submarines, former head of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, executive for Stephens Inc., the influential Arkansas investment bank, and, for nearly five years in the 1980s, chief executive of Freedom Capital Corp.

Savings and loan swindler Tom J. Billman had been on the lam for nearly four years when the fax sent from Paris by FBI agents landed in Baltimore. Federal prosecutors Barbara S. Sale and Joyce McDonald took one look at the handwriting samples on the document and knew the chase would soon be over."

Tom J. Billman, the Maryland savings and loan executive who eluded authorities for four years after stealing millions from depositors, was sentenced yesterday to 40 years in prison and ordered to pay $25 million in restitution -- one of the toughest federal sentences ever for a financial crime in the United States.U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz acknowledged that the punishment was severe but said Billman's actions justified it.He cited a string of events: $29.5 million taken from depositors of Bethesda-based Community Savings and Loan; $22 million secretly wired to Swiss bank accounts; Billman's flight from the country in 1988; and his recent efforts from a Baltimore jail cell to maneuver about $6 million still in Europe.

A 27-year-old Baltimore County man said that he and two accomplices armed with a sawed-off shotgun called off plans to rob a Fallston savings and loan last fall because "someone could get hurt."Christopher Dennis Myles of the 8300 block of Church Lane in Randallstown pleaded guilty in Circuit Court Wednesday to conspiracy to rob the Atlantic Federal Savings and Loan in the Fallston Mall and will be sentenced April 27.According to the plea agreement, prosecutor Diane Brooks, an assistant state's attorney, will recommend that Myles serve six years in prison with the remainder of his sentence suspended.

This is a day federal prosecutors say Tom J. Billman crossed an ocean to avoid.The former executive will step into a federal courtroom in Baltimore this morning for the start of his trial on charges of looting his Bethesda savings and loan of $28 million.For the government, the case has required patience. Mr. Billman disappeared in 1988 as he was being investigated and was still missing a year later when a federal grand jury indicted him on multiple counts of fraud. He pursued an extraordinary life until his arrest in France nearly a year ago.No longer is he George M. Lady, the worldly businessman investigators say he claimed to be in 1989 while cruising the Mediterranean on his two yachts and throwing lavish parties for newfound friends.

In the Maryland Savings and Loan ratings chart in Sunday's business section, the third and fourth columns were labeled incorrectly. The third column should have been labeled "Loan loss reserve as a percent of core equity capital," and the fourth column should have been labeled "Nonperforming assets as a percent of core equity capital." Both are reflections of the quality of a lender's outstanding loans as compared with the financial cushion available to protect against downturns.The Sun regrets the errors.

The Center for Affordable Housing, a nonprofit group that helps people with tarnished or no credit become mortgage-worthy, is negotiating with about 20 lenders to originate and approve mortgage loans.Such a move could make it easier for qualified clients of the center to obtain mortgages and buy homes, and could help lenders extend credit to poor and minority areas, said Charles Jeffries, executive director of the center."Banks haven't been able to reach these community members," Mr. Jeffries said.

Tom J. Billman, accused of looting his Maryland savings and loan of $28 million, was escorted here from a Paris jail yesterday, ending a lengthy international manhunt and extradition battle.Mr. Billman disappeared in December 1988 and lived grandly overseas for a time before being captured at his Paris apartment in March while posing as a champagne entrepreneur named John Rink.At 5:08 p.m. yesterday, Mr. Billman, in a dark suit, white shirt and handcuffs, set foot on Maryland soil for the first time in five years.