McGhee

Defendant was convicted of three counts of grand theft. (Pen. Code, § 487.) He appeals from the judgment of conviction arguing: (1) the information against him was filed beyond the required statutory time limit (Pen. Code, § 1382, subd. 1; (2) insufficient evidence was presented at the preliminary hearing to hold him to answer on two of the charges; (3) his motion for change of venue was erroneously denied; (4) his motion to sever was erroneously denied; (5) improper jury instructions were given; (6) improper rebuttal testimony was introduced; (7) improper testimony from defendant’s state bar hearing was introduced; and (8) his Wheeler motion was erroneously denied. We find these arguments have no merit and affirm the judgment of conviction.

I. Facts and Procedure

The facts center around a series of improper loan transactions (the CET transaction and the Janmohamed transaction). We address first the facts concerning the CET transaction.

Defendant was the attorney and secretary for a real estate investment known as Commonwealth Equity Trust (CET). The trust used money from individual investors to buy real estate. Loans, payments and any type of self-dealing were…