THOUSAND OAKS : Deliberations Begin in Phillips’ Trial

After hearing evidence for more than two months, jurors began deliberations Thursday in what investigators have called the biggest fraud trial in Ventura County history.

Olen B. Phillips and Charles J. Francoeur are charged, in an 81-count indictment, with grand theft, securities fraud and sale of unregistered securities in the operation of Phillips’ defunct business, the Phillips Financial Group of Thousand Oaks.

The indictment deals with 21 investors who claim to have lost about $3 million. But investigators have said that hundreds of people lost as much as $30 million invested with the company.

The Superior Court jury must decide several key issues:

* Were the trust deeds that the defendants sold to investors “unregistered securities,” as Deputy Dist. Atty. Rebecca S. Riley has contended?

* Did the defendants fully disclose to investors how their money would be used and the risks involved?

* Did the defendants intend to defraud anybody? Or, as their attorneys have contended, were they merely the victims of a sagging real estate market and overly aggressive regulatory officials, who shut down the company before it could resolve its financial difficulties?

During the trial the jury spent a total of four days poring over the about 500 pieces of evidence that piled up in Judge Frederick A. Jones’ courtroom.

If convicted on all charges, Phillips and Francoeur each face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.