James A. Thurman, St. Charles, Missouri, the owner of Phoenix Title Company, St. Charles, Missouri, was sentenced to 63 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $2 million in restitution in connection with charges that he defrauded Phoenix Title Company of $1.6 million by taking money from customers’ escrow deposits. Thurman pleaded guilty to wire fraud in August of last year.

Phoenix Title was closed down in April, 2005 and was placed in receivership after Fidelity National Title Insurance of Florida attempted to inspect its records due to rumors of missing escrow funds.

In his guilty plea, Thurman admitted that between March 2002 and December 2004 he took $3.4 million from real estate escrow deposits. He transferred the money to James Andrew GMAC Real Estate, another business that he owned. In February, he borrowed $225,000 and deposited it to the escrow accounts and replaced another $1.9 million in March by borrowing money from his parents.