United States v. Titus, No. 15-3054 (7th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseTitus and others were indicted for a mortgage fraud scheme involving Chicago-area residential properties. Defendants recruited straw buyers, helped them fill out fraudulent mortgage applications, and took kickbacks from the loans. The indictment alleged that the lenders incurred losses of over eight million dollars. The scheme operated from 2004-2012 and involved approximately 52 fraudulent loans. Titus pled guilty to bank fraud, 18 U.S.C. 1344, and admitted to participating in the scheme, but claimed that his fraud was limited to two fraudulent applications. After Titus’s guilty plea, the government claimed that Titus was involved in 18 of the loans obtained in the scheme. An agent from the Department of Housing and Urban Development provided the probation office with a spreadsheet detailing those 18 loans. The presentence investigation report adopted the government’s assertion and estimated that the total loss attributable to Titus was at least $3,334,627; began with a base offense level of 7 and added 18 levels because of the loss amount; added another two levels because the offense involved 10 or more victims; and subtracted three levels because Titus accepted responsibility. The Seventh Circuit vacated his 36-month sentence and remanded because the district court did not provide sufficient factual findings.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.