Florida Title Agency Owner, $2.5M In Escrow Funds Missing, Leaving Stiffed Customers & Employees; Insurance Underwriters Left To Clean Up Mess

In West Palm Beach, Florida, The Palm Beach Post reports:

• Before his disappearance plunged employees and customers of one of Florida's largest independent title companies into chaos last week, Flagler Title founder Roger Gamblin dipped into millions of dollars his company held in escrow for clients, according to testimony Monday. An auditor for one of the insurance companies backing Flagler Title testified in an emergency hearing that Roger Gamblin had used at least $2.5 million of escrow funds to cover shortfalls and pay property taxes and as a "personal line of credit." [...] The last anyone heard from him was a telephone call on May 29.

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• A judge placed Flagler Title in receivership Monday at the request of its insurance underwriters, who have been left to clean up the mess. The insurers were even forced to post security guards last week at some offices to ward of looting by disgruntled employees. [...] Prospects for customers who had placed millions of dollars in Flagler Title's hands are uncertain. [...] Flagler Title employees learned in a conference call last week that the company had run out of money and that their mid-June paycheck would not arrive, a former employee said Monday. "There were some very disgruntled people on that call," said the employee, who asked to remain anonymous.

For more, see Millions missing at title company.

In a related story, see Title firm owner had been fined:

• [Roger Gamblin, t]he West Palm Beach title company owner who disappeared in late May - allegedly after making free use of $2.5 million of his clients' escrow funds - had been fined $25,000 three months earlier by state regulators who accused him of paying kickbacks in exchange for business referrals. [...] That was the second time in two years that Gamblin had been accused of wrongdoing by state officials. In May 2006, Gamblin, 59, paid a $2,500 fine to settle charges that he paid kickbacks, overcharged for insurance, failed to issue a policy and failed to submit timely payments to the insurer who was underwriting a title insurance policy.

Go here, Go here, and Go here for other stories of trust account / escrow account theft of funds. sneaky slick escrow agents gamma