newjerseynewsroom.com

11 homebuyers to be paid restitution

The owner of a title company in Red Bank was sentenced to state prison Friday for stealing $3.8 million in loan proceeds intended for payment of mortgage balances and other closing costs.

Ronald P. Mas Jr., 35, of Red Bank, a mortgage broker, settlement agent and owner of Olde Gotham Title and Settlement Services, was sentenced to 12 years by state Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan in Morristown. Manahan executed a consent judgment to pay full restitution of $3,841,616 to the title company that insured the mortgages.

Mas pleaded guilty on Aug. 26 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, he stole the $3,841,616 that he received from various mortgage lenders for real estate closings on behalf of 11 New Jersey home buyers.

"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," state Attorney General Paula T. Dow said. "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," state Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor said. "We are working to deter white collar crime, whether it takes the form of mortgage fraud, investment fraud, misappropriation or other illegal schemes."

The investigation revealed that Mas diverted loan proceeds into his Ameritrade account. Instead of paying off a client's old mortgage, Mas would make monthly mortgage payments and invest the balance of the loan proceeds into the Ameritrade account. He made monthly payments on some mortgages using funds from new loans provided for clients.

At the end of February, Mas had a total loss of over $3.4 million in his Ameritrade account. As a result, the 11 mortgages were not paid.

Deputy Attorney General Francine Ehrenberg prosecuted the case. The investigation was conducted by Det. Martin Farrell and Ehrenberg, under the supervision of Deputy Attorney General Terrence Hull, chief of the Major Crimes Bureau. They were assisted by Deputy Attorney General Michael Rappa.

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM