Jury finds Titus guilty of 33 counts in Ponzi scheme

NORFOLK

A federal jury on Friday found Troy A. Titus guilty of 33 felony counts of mail and wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy in what prosecutors said was a $7 million real estate Ponzi scam.

Titus, 43, of Virginia Beach, faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each of the most serious mail and wire fraud charges. His total prison time could add up to hundreds of years. U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson set sentencing for April 15.

After a one-month trial and four days of deliberations, the jury returned around 11:30 a.m. Friday, finding Titus guilty of 33 of the 49 counts he faced. The jury found him not guilty of eight related charges and could not reach a verdict on six counts. The government had earlier dropped two counts.

One of the prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa O'Boyle, declined to comment after the verdict.

U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride said in a statement that this case show s the determination among federal authorities to tackle complicated financial fraud cases:

"Especially in the light of the recent economic crisis, we are even more determined to work together to aggressively fight financial fraud in this district."

When Titus was arrested, officials pegged the losses at $2 million, but at trial, prosecutors said they had since discovered an additional $5 million in losses for victims.

The most egregious allegation against Titus was that he swindled from elderly or incapacitated clients who entrusted him to pay for their basic medical and housing expenses. Some were forced out of their homes as a result.

Titus showed no emotion as the verdict was read. Though family members attended most of the trial, he had no supporters there Friday.

His attorney, Andrew Sacks, said they were disappointed at the outcome and planned to appeal. Sacks said he was up against a four-year investigation that culminated in more than 100 witnesses and thousands of pages of documents.

"The sheer mass of that," he said, "was a mighty, mighty mountain to climb."

Sacks said he and Titus gained some satisfaction in the jury's decision to acquit on eight counts and its failure to reach a verdict on six others.

The 16 counts that Titus is not responsible for amounted to about $1 million in the conspiracy.

"We tried to get the point across that just because people lost money doesn't mean it was fraud," Sacks said.

Titus, a disbarred attorney and longtime real estate investor, was charged with defrauding a number of clients - including R&B star Teddy Riley and his one-time Blackstreet partner Chauncey Hannibal - of around $2 million.

In 2005, both Riley and Hannibal were in significant debt. They turned to Titus for help. Instead, they lost title to their homes and a recording studio on Virginia Beach Boulevard, where Riley operated New Jack Swing Future Records. The building has since burned down.

Titus obtained mortgages on the properties even though they were already encumbered in debt. He then obtained loans from investors based on his interest in those properties but then stopped paying the mortgages. Banks foreclosed on each property, which Riley and Hannibal did not learn about until much later.

Titus had promised his real estate investors dividends as high as 25 percent, but as he began losing money, he sought out more investors in an effort to make up the losses in what prosecutors called a classic Ponzi scheme.

An honors graduate of Liberty University and Regent University Law School, Titus operated a successful law firm and real estate investment program for many years. His real estate program became so profitable that he began writing books, holding seminars and putting out DVDs showing others how to do the same.

He testified that he got in over his head on some deals and that his actions were, at best, negligent but not criminal. He also blamed office staff for mismanaging accounts.

Titus operated Titus Law Group and later Premier Law Group in offices on Indian River Road. At the height of his law practice, he had a dozen lawyers working for him.

He was disbarred in 2005 after a Virginia State Bar investigation found that Titus' client escrow accounts had repeatedly come up short of funds.

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