The owner of a Red Bank real estate title company is heading to state prison for a dozen years for stealing $3.8 million of client funds to fund personal investments, according to an announcement by the state Attorney General.
Here’s the text of a press release from the AG’s office:
TRENTON – Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced that the owner of a title company in Red Bank was sentenced to prison today for stealing $3.8 million in loan proceeds intended for payment of mortgage balances and other closing costs.
According to Director Taylor, Ronald P. Mas Jr., 35, of Red Bank, a mortgage broker, settlement agent and owner of Olde Gotham Title and Settlement Services LLC in Red Bank, was sentenced to 12 years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan in Morris County. He executed a consent judgment to pay full restitution of $3,841,616 to the title company that insured the mortgages. Deputy Attorney General Francine Ehrenberg prosecuted the case for the Division of Criminal Justice Major Crimes Bureau.
Mas pleaded guilty on Aug. 26, 2010 to an accusation charging him with second-degree money laundering and second-degree theft by failure to make required disposition of property received. He admitted that between April 2009 and February 2010, he stole $3,841,616 that he received from various mortgage lenders for real estate closings on behalf of 11 home buyers across New Jersey.
“Home buyers, lenders and title insurers must be able to rely on title agents, who are routinely entrusted with hundreds of thousands of dollars in closing funds,” said Attorney General Dow. “When such agents violate their fiduciary duty and steal from clients, as this defendant did, they should face a stiff sentence.”
“We have made prosecuting major financial crimes a top priority, as this lengthy prison sentence illustrates,” said Director Taylor. “We are working to deter white collar crime, whether it takes the form of mortgage fraud, investment fraud, misappropriation or other illegal schemes.”
The state investigation revealed that Mas diverted loan proceeds into his Ameritrade account. Instead of paying off the client’s old mortgage, Mas would make monthly mortgage payments and invest the balance of the loan proceeds into the Ameritrade account. Mas made monthly payments on some mortgages using funds from new loans provided for clients. At the end of February 2010, Mas had a total loss of over $3.4 million in his Ameritrade account. As a result, 11 mortgages were not paid.
The investigation was conducted by Detective Martin Farrell and Deputy Attorney General Ehrenberg, under the supervision of Bureau Chief Terrence Hull. They were assisted by Deputy Attorney General Michael Rappa.
