News Update
Partner in Plano-based investment scheme sentenced to 80 years
Staff Reports
Maine resident Karen Bowie received an 80-year sentence Friday for her role in an investment scheme run through Titan Wealth Management LLC of Plano, according to the Collin County District Attorney's office.
The 61-year-old was a partner in the company and part of a Ponzi scheme selling fictitious, high-yielding “European Mid-Term Notes” represented as being issued by European Banks. She stole at least $4.7 million from investors in Titan Wealth and used some of that money to buy a coastal home in Maine, the DA's office said.
Titan Wealth was primarily owned by Bowie’s partner, Thomas Lester Irby II, a Frisco money manager who promised investors that notes issued by European banks would pay short-term returns of between 10-50 percent. Most of the money Irby raised from investors paid for his personal expenses and was diverted to pay earlier investors.
Bowie insulated herself from direct contact with investors, but she encouraged Irby to lie to them. She also directed Irby where to transfer the money the company received by investors.
Irby was sentenced in December 2010 to 24 years in state prison after his conviction on a charge of money laundering. The Securities and Exchange Commission shut down Titan Wealth in 2009 through a separate civil action.
Bowie was convicted of theft over $200,000, a first-degree felony.
The 61-year-old was a partner in the company and part of a Ponzi scheme selling fictitious, high-yielding “European Mid-Term Notes” represented as being issued by European Banks. She stole at least $4.7 million from investors in Titan Wealth and used some of that money to buy a coastal home in Maine, the DA's office said.
Titan Wealth was primarily owned by Bowie’s partner, Thomas Lester Irby II, a Frisco money manager who promised investors that notes issued by European banks would pay short-term returns of between 10-50 percent. Most of the money Irby raised from investors paid for his personal expenses and was diverted to pay earlier investors.
Bowie insulated herself from direct contact with investors, but she encouraged Irby to lie to them. She also directed Irby where to transfer the money the company received by investors.
Irby was sentenced in December 2010 to 24 years in state prison after his conviction on a charge of money laundering. The Securities and Exchange Commission shut down Titan Wealth in 2009 through a separate civil action.
Bowie was convicted of theft over $200,000, a first-degree felony.
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