Ted Russell Schwartz Murray, owner of Premier Holdings real estate investments, was found guilty by a jury in U.S.

Ted Russell Schwartz Murray, owner of Premier Holdings real estate investments, was found guilty by a jury in U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore's court of conspiracy, fraud and filing false tax returns.Assistant U.S. Attorney Cedric Joubert told jurors that Murray and his two codefendants, who entered into plea bargains and testified against him, stole $67 million from wealthy investors including Norris, Jim "Mattress Mack" McInvale, retired baseball player Vince Coleman and many Houstonians.Murray and his coconspirators promised investors high interest, low fees, quick cash outs and instead stole most of their money, the prosecutor said.
"This is not about bad business practices. This is about fraud, deceit, misrepresentation and lies," Joubert told the jury in final arguments.Jurors also heard about Murray dining with Tiger Woods in Scottsdale, Ariz., but failing to hook him as an investor. And he also was the signatory on a letter handed out at Charles Barkley fundraiser roast touting the investment program. They heard about Murray writing off a $29,000 Rolex as "supplies and equipment" on his taxes and also taking deductions for his mother's rent, her spa treatment, casino gambling and buying small boats.The more complicated evidence they heard was about subprime mortgages and commercial loans failing and Murray and his cohorts misrepresenting the failures and continuing to bring in investors who were duped and eventually lost millions.Murray's lawyer Ed Tomko said it was Murray's codefendants, David Isaac Lapin and Jeffrey Carl Wigginton, who ran a subsidiary of Premiere called Lapin and Wigginton Asset Management, who committed all the fraud and Murray didn't know about it. "We are very disappointed in the verdict. We will ask for a new trial and if that isn't successful, I expect he will appeal," said Tomko.
The trial started before the major collapse of Wall Street and was interrupted by Hurricane Ike."I don't think the jury seeing the economy collapse because of bad mortgages could have helped us," Tomko said.Murray, who said he's currently supporting himself by trading natural gas and servicing outstanding mortgages, begged the judge to let him stay free on his $500,000 unsecured bond until his March 2009 sentencing. Gilmore said she will allow him a short period of time to get his affairs in order and but is likely send him to prison before his sentencing date.Lapin and Wigginton have both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and testified that Murray kept them in the dark about some of the fraud. They have yet to be sentenced.The men sold investors on groups of subprime residential mortgages and then later on some commercial loans. They called the investments Premiere 72. According to testimony, the business promised: 72-hour liquidity on investments, though they had no pool of cash to keep that promise; first liens on the real estate, though that was not true; 12 percent interest, which was actually paid out of their own investments; and one percent fees, though fees of 25 percent and more were taken.Evidence showed many of the loans the company held were in default and Murray did not tell investors. Instead the company paid investors regular "interest," letting them think it was a return on investments when it was really just pieces of their original investment.Testimony also indicated Murray ran up regular gambling debts at casinos. But he said he did so in part to cash out chips and use the money to give presents to his children and others.