WHILE rival suitors circle Crédit Lyonnais in France, its past
is catching up with it in America. Jeffrey Isaacs, an assistant
United States attorney in Los Angeles, has started long-awaited
grand-jury hearings to indict the bank for fraud in connection
with its purchase in 1991-93 of Executive Life, an American
insurance company. Several witnesses have been called and more
will appear this month and next. An indictment is expected early
next year.  After Executive Life went bust in 1991, insurance
regulators chose a rescue package put together by Crédit
Lyonnais. As part of the deal, the bank arranged for a new
insurance company, Aurora, to take over Executive Life's
insurance contracts. Regulators were told that a consortium set
up to own and manage Aurora would be independent of Crédit
Lyonnais, as both federal and state laws required. However, the
bank had confidential agreements to buy back shares in Aurora
from consortium members, who were acting as fronts for the bank.
As Crédit Lyonnais was then owne