P.M. BRIEFING : Court Date Set for Ex-S&L; Chief

DALLAS —  The flamboyant former chairman of a defunct Texas thrift that will cost taxpayers $2 billion to bail out was read his rights and given an arraignment date today in a court appearance one day after his indictment on 17 counts of bank fraud.

Edwin T. McBirney III, 37, who began his meteoric S&L; career at age 24 with real estate investments, was the founder and owner of Sunbelt Savings Assn. of Texas, which he put together in the early 1980s by buying six smaller institutions.

Sunbelt began with assets of $94.4 million and in four years had amassed assets of $3.2 billion. McBirney became a millionaire through the thrift and through continued investments in real estate and is now chairman of Oxidyne Co. in Dallas.

During his court appearance today, U.S. Judge Barefoot Sanders ordered McBirney to appear before U.S. District Judge Robert Maloney, the trial judge, on July 19 for arraignment. Sanders, with the approval of the U.S. attorney’s office, also allowed McBirney to be released on his own recognizance.