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<DIV><FONT size=2>Here's the latest info re/ InTrust from the Daily Southtown
newspaper in Chicago.</FONT></DIV>
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<H2>Proposal to sell Intrust may be presented to Cook County by
week's end </H2>
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<P><B><I><FONT color=#800040>Thursday, September 14,
2000</FONT></I></B></P>
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<P><!BYLINE!><B>By Mike Nolan</B><!BYLINE!><B><I><BR>Business
Writer</I></B>
<HR noShade>
<ENDCREDIT>The company running Independent Trust Corp. may seal a
deal this week to sell the Orland Park trust company.
<P>An official with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said Wednesday that a
proposal to sell Intrust could be presented to Cook County Circuit
Judge Sidney Jones III before the end of the week.
<P>Lawrence Ward, who has been overseeing PricewaterhouseCoopers'
role as Intrust's receiver, said the company is in the final stages
of negotiations with a prospective buyer.
<P>"We are optimistic we will reach an agreement" with the
company, Ward said. He declined to identify the interested buyer.
<P>"We are hoping that we may have something by the end of this
week" to present to Jones, Ward said.
<P>Jones is presiding over the receivership case.
<P>When PricewaterhouseCoopers was appointed receiver of Intrust in
April, one of its duties was to attempt to find a buyer for the
company.
<P>Ward said several parties had expressed "initial
interest" in buying Intrust, which was taken over by state
regulators in April.
<P>At that time, the company, 15255 S. 94th Ave., administered about
$1.7 billion in trust assets belonging to about 17,500 customers.
<P>Ward, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, said if a sale of
Intrust is approved, the accounting and consulting firm would
continue as receiver until the sale is completed.
<P>A portion of the sale proceeds could be used toward making up a
shortage of $68.1 million in customer assets. PricewaterhouseCoopers
has also filed claims under two insurance policies Intrust carried
and is pursuing litigation to try to recoup the money.
<P>PricewaterhouseCoopers, in a lawsuit filed in June, alleges that
Laurence Capriotti and Jack Hargrove, as well as companies they
controlled, stole millions of dollars from an escrow account that
held Intrust money. Attorneys for the two men have said Capriotti
and Hargrove did not take the money.
<P>Between December 1990 and April 1999, Intrust transferred more
than $101 million into an escrow account managed and controlled by
Intercounty Title Co. of Illinois, a firm owned by Capriotti and
Hargrove. PricewaterhouseCoopers alleges that slightly more than $51
million of that total was misappropriated by the two men. In its
suit, PricewaterhouseCoopers is seeking to recover that money, as
well as about $17 million in interest that the funds should have
accrued.
<P>To cover the Intrust shortage, PricewaterhouseCoopers has
proposed taking cash and other assets from thousands of Intrust
customer accounts. However, hundreds of Intrust customers have
objected to the plan and are arguing that their accounts should be
exempt from the loss allocation proposal.
<P>Jones is scheduled to hear arguments on those objections later
this month.
<P>Last month, Jones approved levying a receivership fee against
many Intrust accounts to finance PricewaterhouseCoopers' work as
receiver. The one-time fee is expected to raise about $2.1 million.
In asking Jones to approve the fee, PricewaterhouseCoopers said it
needs about $500,000 a month to continue its duties as receiver, and
the company did not rule out the possibility of having to come back
to Jones seeking approval for another fee.
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