[Ready4Freddy]

They both happened to start at C-I the same year that the bank failed (1984), probably after the failure. The bank's failure was mainly due to bad energy sector lending (of their own, in addition to the Penn Square debacle) exacerbated by the downturn in the oil sector 1981-1983, and the LDC lending pooch screw, which started with Mexico's 1982 default on their foreign debt. All set in place long before the Fastows were even out of college.

Both of the Fastow's were at Continental-Illinois when it failed?

[ladyjane]

Yes, clearly they had nothing to do with the reasons for the C-I failure. The Fastows were still up at Tufts or at Northwestern when it began.

However, they were there at least in the aftermath of the failure. That provided firsthand knowledge of what goes on when an entity fails and the feds are scrutinizing every memo and every signature. They got to see who got blamed and who slithered away. Valuable information.