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PHOENIX (KSAZ) -
Charles H. Keating, the Arizona businessman who became synonymous with the savings and loan scandal in the 1980s died Monday night in Phoenix.
He was 90 years old. He lived large, dreamed big and his fall was epic.
30 years before the housing crisis, there was the savings and loan scandal -- and the valley's Keating was the poster boy. His bravado made him an easy villain.
He spent five years in federal prison for defrauding thousands of investors through the failure of Lincoln Savings and Loan.
Through it all, Keating maintained his innocence.
"They didn't know what they were talking about."
The scandal nearly brought down Arizona Senators John McCain and Dennis DeConcini -- two of the so-called "Keating Five."
Prominent politicians who accepted campaign money from Keating and then lobbied banking regulators on his behalf.
McCain and DeConcini were reprimanded by the Senate, but both remained in office.
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