Ex-Bank Head Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy

LOS ANGELES —  A former Tustin bank president pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy for giving phony credit information to five Las Vegas casinos so they would approve credit lines for several alleged organized crime figures.

Roger McGinnis, 52, of Orange, admitted in U.S. District Court that while president of Far Western Bank in 1984 he helped to provide bad credit information to five casinos: Binion’s Horseshoe, the Las Vegas Hilton, the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, the Sands Hotel and Casino and the Desert Inn and Country Club.

He faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Sentencing before District Judge Stephen V. Wilson is scheduled for Jan. 18.

The five casinos extended loans worth thousands of dollars to Robert Benjamin, John DeMattia and Morton Goodman.

DeMattia pleaded guilty to wire fraud in April, 1988, in connection with the scheme. He also pleaded guilty to extortion in an unrelated case and received a three-year prison sentence.

Goodman, who is trying to negotiate a plea bargain in the case, and DeMattia are alleged associates of a Los Angeles organized crime family, according to Department of Justice special attorney Drew Pitt.

Pitt said he did not know how McGinnis first became associated with the men. McGinnis was indicted in October, 1987, on 19 counts of conspiracy and wire fraud. All but one of the counts were dropped as part of a plea bargain.