Former Auditor Troy X. Kelley Scheduled For Retrial
U.S. Attorney’s Office Asks Court to Schedule Retrial for Washington State Auditor Troy X. Kelley
Request for New Trial on Fourteen Charges follows Hung Jury
Today prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton to set a new trial for TROY X. Kelley, the former Democrat State Auditor, on the fourteen charges that a Tacoma jury was unable to reach unanimous verdicts on. Those charges relate to possession of stolen property, false statements, tax crimes and money laundering. The court set the trial for March 13, 2017.
“After careful review we have decided to seek a new trial for Troy X. Kelley on the charges the jury could not reach a verdict on,” said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. “We believe it is in the interest of justice to seek final judgment on all the counts in the indictment.”
A federal grand jury indicted Kelley on charges related to his previous work in the real estate services industry.
Kelley is accused of possessing and concealing nearly $1.5 million in fees that should have been returned to homeowners across the state. The indictment said he “fraudulently retained, stole” and schemed to avoid paying taxes on the money.
According to the counts in the original indictment, between 2003 and 2008, Kelley operated a business that was paid by real estate title companies to track documents related to real estate sales and refinancings.
Kelley had agreements with those companies for the fees he could charge in connection with the document-tracking work. While the title companies withheld $100-$150 on each loan to pay the fee, the bulk of the money was to be returned to the borrower with Kelley’s company being paid approximately $15- $20 per transaction.
In most cases, Kelley kept the entire amount withheld on each loan resulting in more than $2 million in stolen money. When the amount withheld by title companies became the subject of civil litigation, Kelley obstructed the litigation, repeatedly lying in a declaration and in depositions while under oath.
The original indictment also charges Kelley with making false statements to Internal Revenue Service agents who questioned him about his scheme in April 2013, and with corruptly interfering with Internal Revenue law and filing false income tax returns in 2008.
