Fake Attorney Gets 7+ Years For $1.7M Escrow Ripoff In Conducting Real Estate Closings; Pocketed Funds Due To Existing Lienholders, Homeowners

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Daily News reports:

• A con man who passed himself off as an attorney was sentenced in federal district court yesterday to 7 1/2 years behind bars in connection with a scheme to bilk homeowners, lenders, title insurance companies and the city of Philadelphia of $1.7 million. Jason Bloom, 39, of Mount Laurel, N.J., has been in federal custody since he pleaded guilty on July 13 to wire fraud affecting a financial institution.

• Authorities said that Bloom [...] acted as a settlement and title-insurance agent for real-estate sales and refinancings for a firm in Trevose, Bucks County, and, later, his own company. Bloom kept money he received from settlements that was supposed to be used to pay off existing mortgages, pay real-estate taxes in Philadelphia and make refunds to homeowners for overpayments at closings.

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• By pretending to be an attorney, Bloom increased the number of settlements that he could handle. Some jurisdictions in New Jersey permit only attorneys to handle real-estate closings. [...] Joyner ordered Bloom to make restitution of $1,730,874 to three title insurance companies, two financial firms and the city. (Homeowners ripped off have already been made whole, the feds said.)(1)

For the story, see Bogus lawyer stole $1.7M, gets 7 years.

(1) I get the feeling that the insurance companies that underwrite the title policies in real estate transactions pay out more to cover the looting of escrow accounts committed by their agents than they do in actual title claims. EscrowRipOffKappa