Banking "Unsound Practices"

The 1988 collapse of Denver's Silverado Banking, Savings & Loan Association will cost taxpayers more than $1 billion. Last week a major figure in that disaster, presidential son Neil Bush, was judged to have engaged in "unsafe or unsound practices and breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest." In making that pronouncement, Timothy Ryan, director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, ruled that if Bush again serves as director of a financial institution, he must seek legal advice on his responsibilities, disclose potential conflicts of interest and abstain from voting on matters in which he has a personal stake.

Ryan's action was the mildest penalty that could have been meted out. But Bush still faces potential trouble. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has brought a $200 million gross-negligence suit against him and other former Silverado officials.