BANKING & FINANCE - Jan. 11, 1994

Another Aide Gets Probation in Lincoln S&L; Collapse: A bookish computer expert swept up in Charles Keating Jr.’s empire was rewarded with probation for helping convict Keating of looting Lincoln Savings and swindling investors in Lincoln’s parent American Continental Corp. Robin Scott Symes, the latest in a series of plea-bargainers to get probation, once held the title of Lincoln chief executive. He testified, though, that Keating kept powerful control over the savings and loan, which failed in 1989 at a cost to taxpayers of $3.4 billion, the costliest bailout ever. Symes, who was put on probation for three years, declined to address the court or to comment on his sentence outside.