F.B.I. probes bid to buy Reagan house

Press, 13 February 1982, Page 8

F.B.I. probes bid to buy Reagan house

NZPA-Reuter Palm Springs The Federal Bureau of Investigation said yesterday it was investigating an unsuccessful bid to buy President Ronald Reagan’s former home by a group whose leader once served a prison term for grand theft. The attempted purchase by the Zoller Group fell through last month after Mr Reagan’s Los Angeles lawyer, Roy Miller, found out there were two sets of deed instructions.

Each appeared to bear Mr Miller's signature as the Reagans’ representative, but each contained a different price for the home, officials said.

Federal and state laws make it illegal to forge documents or to knowingly submit false papers to a financial institution.

The Zoller Group was headed by William Ogle, aged 53, of Palm Desert, convicted in 1976 of grand theft in San Diego in connection with the purchase of a sailboat, according to authorities in San Diego. He served about V/z years in prison.

Mr Reagan put his Pacific Palisades home of ,25 years on the market for 51.9 million after his election to the presidency. The Zoller Group had offered to buy the house for $430,000 in cash and American Telephone and Telegraph Company bonds worth $600,000 now but worth $1.47 million on maturity.

Mr Miller said he had signed deed instructions listing the value of the sale at $1.03 million — the cash value plus the current value of the bonds.

But an official at Valley First Federal Savings and Loan in Palm Desert, which the Zoller Group had ap-

proached to obtain financing for the sale., said he was given deed instructions, also apparently signed by Mr Miller, listing the sale at $1.9 million. '

A higher sales value generally helps a buyer obtain a bigger loan, and Mr,Miller said the Zoller Group sought to obtain-a . $l.l million ..loan using the home as collateral.

' The sale collapsed after the two sets of instructions were discovered. Mr Reagan's home was sold later to a Los Angeles lawyer for $1.9 million.