Jury fails to reach verdict on key charges against state auditor

On Tuesday, the jurors failed to make a unanimous verdict against the first Washington official that was indicted after 35 years. Since the federal fraud trial didn't get a verdict, the official is cleared of lying to the IRS on one account.

According to Yahoo, state auditor Troy Kelley celebrated by kissing and hugging his weeping wife after US District Judge Ronald Leighton announced the results of the jury's verdict. The trial spent more than 5 weeks in the process. Angelo Calfo, one of his attorneys, said "This is a case that should never have been brought. The jury's inability to come to a verdict ... shows to us Troy is on the right path to vindication."

Komo News wrote that prosecutors of the case accused Kelley of keeping $3 million in fees that should have been returned to homeowners during the time he ran a real-estate business. It was the height of last decade's real estate boom before he was elected as the state auditor in 2012. The court jury failed to make a solid verdict that will incarcerate Kelley on 14 counts including whether the accused possessed stolen money, laundered money, lied under oath in civil litigation and filed false income tax returns.

ABC News published that Kelley's attorney was keen on saying that he's entitled to keep the money. If the government is to examine his case again, they should prove that Kelley knew the money was stolen and therefore will be charged with concealing and possessing stolen properties. Calfo hopes that the prosecutors will leave the case to rest while Seattle US Attorney Hayes promised she'll make a thorough review regarding the deadlock decision of the jury.

The charges against Kelly stemmed from the operation of his business called Post Closing Department which is tracking escrow paperwork for title companies. Kelley's attorney argues that homeowners were never promised refunds. Hence, no one was harmed by his actions.

Tags

IRS, Washington, State auditor, Money Laundering, Angelo Calfo, income tax return, stolen money, Post Closing Department, Washington Jury, Attorney Hayes

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