Atlanta Feds: Law Firm/Title Insurance Agency's Ex-Managing Partner/CEO Siphoned Over $20 Million Out Of Company's Escrow & Operating Accounts; Outfit Handled Real Estate Closings, Bankster Foreclosures

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Atlanta, Georgia):

• A federal indictment unsealed [] charges Nathan E. Hardwick IV and Asha R. Maurya with conspiracy, wire fraud, and related crimes in connection with Hardwick’s alleged theft of over $20 million from the attorney escrow accounts and operating accounts of Morris Hardwick Schneider and LandCastle Title, an Atlanta-based law firm and title agency in which Hardwick and Maurya once served as top executives.
  
  In addition to charges against Maurya for assisting with Hardwick’s theft, the indictment also charges Maurya with stealing approximately $900,000 from the firm’s accounts to pay her own personal expenses.
  
  “The indictment alleges an embezzlement scheme dating back years,” said U.S. Attorney John Horn. “Along the way, Mr. Hardwick is alleged to have repeatedly lied to his clients, law partners, banks and others. The allegations are especially troubling given that the actions were orchestrated by a lawyer who swore an oath to uphold the law and to represent his clients with integrity.”
  
  ***
  According to U.S. Attorney Horn, the indictment, and other information presented in court: Morris Hardwick Schneider and LandCastle Title (“MHS”) was a law firm and title insurance agency headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. MHS employed approximately 80 lawyers and 800 non-lawyer employees in 16 states.
  
  MHS’s law practice specialized in residential real estate closings and default and foreclosure matters. MHS’s title insurance business involved selling title insurance policies in connection with residential real estate closings.
  
  ***
  From MHS’s formation in 2005 until Hardwick’s resignation in August 2014, Hardwick served as managing partner of the law firm and Chief Executive Officer of the title insurance agency. Hardwick was also the majority shareholder of MHS. Hardwick worked out of MHS’s Atlanta headquarters, supervised virtually all of MHS’s day-to-day operations, and had virtually unlimited access to, and control over, MHS’s financial affairs.
  
  Maurya was an accounting department employee of MHS from April 2009 until her termination in November 2014. Maurya was hired to be MHS’s Escrow Account Controller and was eventually promoted to the position of Chief Financial Officer of MHS’s closing division. Maurya managed MHS’s attorney escrow account operations and other accounting operations under Hardwick’s supervision. [more]

For more, see Former Managing Partner and CFO of Morris, Hardwick, Schneider Law Firm, and Land Castle Title, Indicted for Multi-Million Dollar Embezzlement.