THIRD OFFICIAL SENTENCED IN THRIFT COLLAPSE
A third former official of the Home
State Savings Bank was ordered sent to prison for his part in
the bank's 1985 collapse.
    Burton Bongard, 46, was sentenced to 15 years in prison,
five years of which were suspended, and ordered to pay 114 MLN
dlrs in restitution for mishandling the bank's money. He was
also ordered to pay 800,000 dlrs in court costs.
    Bongard quit as Home State president 10 months before the
bank collapsed after suffering more than 143 mln dlrs in
losses.
   
    Bongard, a second former president and the bank's owner
were charged with 82 counts of misapplying the bank's funds by
transferring them to ESM Government Securities Inc., of Florida
without the authorization of the bank's board.
    ESM folded in March of 1985, taking its biggest investor,
Home State, along with it.
   
 Reuter
