BANKING & FINANCE - July 23, 1991

Figure in Lincoln Case Pleads Guilty: The former chairman of Lincoln Savings & Loan pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to two counts of federal securities fraud and, in state court, to six counts of violating state securities laws. Symes, 38, faces a maximum prison term of 10 years in each court. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January. Symes is expected to testify against his former boss, Charles H. Keating Jr., and other executives at the Irvine-based savings and loan and its parent company, American Continental Corp., which is based in Phoenix. Keating, American Continental’s former chairman, and Judy J. Wischer, the company’s former president, are scheduled for trial on the state charges Aug. 2 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.