PROVO — A 4th District Court jury has found Calvin Paul Stewart guilty on all 11 counts of securities fraud, following three days of testimony from witnesses who lost their homes in what was one of the state's largest investment fraud cases.
It took the jury just over three hours Wednesday to reach its verdicts. Judge Anthony Schofield ordered Stewart taken immediately into custody. Court bailiffs had to briefly struggle with Stewart to get him into handcuffs before taking him to the Utah County Jail, where he will await his Aug. 6 sentencing.
Stewart also faces charges in Salt Lake County.
Stewart, acting as his own attorney, provided no defense, called no witnesses and declined to testify himself. Instead, he simply stated several times "I do not consent" in response to evidence offered by prosecutors.
Prosecutors allege that Stewart and his company, Astrotech Corp., conspired with agents associated with Attorneys Title in a Ponzi-type scheme in which people would sell their homes and allow Stewart's company or his agents to place the equity funds in an Attorneys Title escrow account. Witnesses said Stewart and his colleagues told them the investments were 100 percent risk free and would earn as much as 9 percent interest monthly.
In reality, state and Utah County investigators say Stewart and others were using new investor money to pay off old investors in a vicious cycle that ultimately left dozens of homeowners without their homes and financially ruined.
Leroy Condit said he once owned a $200,000 home. The senior Utah County resident said things are markedly different. "Now I live in a $25,000 mobile home." And he is struggling to pay for it, Condit said.
Condit and others said they were approached by mortgage lender Dan Starr, who was an associate of Stewart's. In testimony Monday, Starr said he was recruited by Stewart to find homeowners who would be willing to invest.
Former Attorneys Title agents Clay Harrison and Dale McAllister took the stand to testify against Stewart, claiming Stewart was the mastermind behind the scheme. Wearing jail jumpsuits and chains, Harrison and McAllister, who face felony charges themselves and agreed to testify for promised leniency from prosecutors, admitted to helping move funds from escrow accounts to pay off other investors.
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