Judge revokes bond for disbarred attorney Troy Titus

NORFOLK

While sitting in jail, facing a federal investment fraud indictment, disbarred attorney Troy A. Titus reached out to several individuals, including one-time Olympic superstar Tim Montgomery, with proposed investment deals, prosecutors say.

A fter getting out of jail on bond last fall, Titus went to work for an investment firm earning $7,000 to $10,000 a month, a job that a judge had forbidden him from working, according to court records in the case.

After hearing this evidence on Tuesday, a federal magistrate judge revoked Titus' bond and ordered him jailed pending trial, which is scheduled for Oct. 6.

Titus faces a 49-count indictment alleging a series of mail, bank and wire frauds involving real estate deals. Federal prosecutors say Titus defrauded around $2 million from a number of clients, including R&B star Teddy Riley and his one-time Blackstreet partner Chauncey Hannibal.

Titus was in the Portsmouth jail with Montgomery when he offered his assistance with raising cash for Montgomery's Virginia Beach nightclub. At the time, Montgomery was in jail facing heroin possession charges. He's now serving five years in federal prison for that crime plus another four in an unrelated check-kiting case.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James E. Bradberry didn't give Titus' attorneys much of a chance Tuesday to argue for their client's continued freedom. Titus has been free on $5,000 bond since September.

Before the defense had a chance to present evidence, Bradberry said, "It's become apparent to the court that Mr. Titus has violated the terms and conditions of his release."

"Judge!" said Assistant Federal Public Defender Larry Dash. "It's apparent you've already made a ruling."

Bradberry said that he had heard evidence of Titus' violations at a hearing two weeks ago concerning Titus' finances. After learning that Titus was earning $7,000 to $10,000 a month at an investment firm, the government had moved to force Titus to pay for his public defenders. However, that issue turned moot once Titus went to jail Tuesday.

Bradberry, who had set the conditions for Titus' release on bond last fall, said he "did not want him involved in the business world in any way."

"He has absolutely disregarded that," Bradberry said.

Dash tried to offer evidence that Titus was simply performing non-investment related tasks for his employer, SCG International Risk, and its owner James "Jamie" Smith Jr. Smith testified at the earlier hearing that Titus' job was to search for real estate Smith could purchase as vacation rental investments.

Smith, a self-proclaimed one-time CIA operative and a former Blackwater vice president, said he also had Titus set up a company to lease a "safe house" in Pakistan. However, the deal fell through, Smith said.

Bradberry went on to suggest that one of Smith's subsidiaries, for which Titus had briefly worked, was conducting some of the same real estate practices that got Titus into trouble.

"That group is doing exactly the same type of work that Mr. Titus was doing that got him indicted," Bradberry said.

That subsidiary, Optimal Financial Group, performs seminars on investment planning and is led by Smith and a partner, Charlie Dombek, who is listed as a government witness in the Titus case.

Titus said nothing through Tuesday's hearing and was not called to testify. When it was over, federal marshals led him away in handcuffs.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com