Closing Agent Gets 12 Months For Failure To Pay Income Tax On Loot Embezzled From Real Estate Escrow Account; Missing Cash Meant For Lien Payoffs

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Baltimore, Maryland):

• U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Collette Snyder, age 42, of Timonium, Maryland, [] to one year and one day in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, for filing false tax returns in 2007 and 2008, after she did not claim over $382,000 she embezzled from her employer, Maple Leaf Title. Judge Blake also ordered Snyder to pay $115,529 in restitution to the IRS.

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• Because of the embezzlement from MLT’s escrow account by Snyder and by Anthony Weis, MLT’s president, MLT did not have sufficient funds to pay off existing mortgage loan notes on properties for which MLT had performed settlement services.



• As a result, Weis directed MLT employees in 13 real estate closings conducted in 2009 to withhold the payoff checks from institutions that held the existing mortgage loan notes on the properties.



• Because the existing mortgages had not been paid off, clear title could not be passed to the new lender and borrower. An insurance company that had issued title insurance policies to the borrowers guaranteeing clear title ultimately paid out $3.9 million to financial institutions that held mortgage notes.



• Weis pleaded guilty to wire fraud, was sentenced to 78 months in prison and was ordered to pay restitution of $4,007,705, which includes the loss to the title insurance company and the expenses of the individual victims.

For the U.S. Attorney press release, see Former Towson Title Company Employee Sentenced to Prison for Filing False Tax Returns.