Norvel Brown, President of Mississippi Valley Title Company, pled guilty to charges of stealing more than $3.2 million from HUD and commercial escrow accounts and the theft of $17,900 from his employees 401k benefit plan. He pled guilty to one felony count of wire fraud and one felony count of theft from an employee benefit plan.

Brown now faces a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison and/or a fine of $250,000 on the wire fraud charge; the theft count carries a maximum of five years in prison and/or a fine of $250,000. Sentencing has been set for April 20, 2007.

Brown was president of Mississippi Valley Title, Inc. (MVT), who served as the closing agent for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from October 2000 through November 2004. MVT received funds from buyers of HUD properties which were to be placed in escrow accounts designated specifically for those closings. MVT was required by HUD to wire the funds received by 2 p.m. of the day following the closing dates. During the time period above, Brown had employees transfer funds from the HUD escrow account to MVT’s operating account to pay operating expenses and to their commercial escrow account in order to maintain a positive balance. The loss to HUD from Brown's scheme is $2,248,879 million. The loss to other victims was approximately $942,371.

Brown was the sole trustee of the Mississippi Valley Title, Inc. 401k Profit Sharing Plan. Between August 2003 and October 2004, Brown stole $17,912 from this plan for his own use.