Escrow firm president admits to fraud

PROVIDENCE – The president of a real estate closing escrow firm this week pleaded guilty to one federal count of wire fraud, admitting that she used about $1.3 million in her company’s escrow account to pay for personal expenses.
Angela Raposa, 32, president of East Providence’s Title America Closing Services LLC, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, in Providence on Monday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew J. Reich said at the plea hearing that in the year leading up to February 2007, Raposa “wrote checks and used a debit card against her company’s escrow account to pay for such personal expenses as residential utility bills and mortgage payments, hair salon fees, cosmetics, clothing, a car, personal trips and payments to relatives,” according to a court release. Raposa spent a total of $1,301,826.
Real estate transaction proceeds were deposited into the company’s escrow account, where they were supposed to be used for closing costs, such as paying off an existing mortgage. But Title America’s underwriter, Stewart Title, discovered in February 2007 that Raposa had been dipping into the account, according to a release from the court.
The company, incorporated in 2005, had between five and seven employees. Raposa, of Riverside, is set to be sentenced April 17 and is free on unsecured bond. The maximum sentence is 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or a fine of twice the amount of gain.
Title America Closing Services LLC has a listed address of 855 Waterman Ave., East Providence.