Los Angeles County - News from Dec. 12, 1994

Jury Still Out on Spiegel: Jurors in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles today will resume deliberations in the criminal case against Thomas Spiegel, former chief executive of failed Columbia Savings & Loan. The 46 charges that Spiegel faced when the trial began seven weeks ago have been whittled down to just three by Judge Robert M. Takasugi. The remaining charges center on Spiegel’s alleged attempt to profit personally from a 1986 investment that prosecutors say should have belonged to Columbia. But Spiegel’s defense team portrays the case as the result of a “vendetta” by federal regulators who resented Spiegel’s $9-million 1986 salary, his lavish lifestyle and his aggressive, iconoclastic investment style.