Molly L. Heise, 49, Greenfield, Minnesota, owner of real estate closing firm Profile Title & Escrow Corp., and Christine A. Hein, 38, Buffalo, Minnesota, the company's chief financial officer, were charged in a superceding indictment with multiple counts of criminal wrongdoing, including wire fraud and money laundering.
According to the Superceding Indictment, beginning in June 2002 through January 2004, the defendants conspired to defraud Chicago Title by depositing more than $370 million into a secret account while maintaining the escrow account required and known by Chicago Title with scrupulous adherence. From the "secret" account, Heise transferred $2 million to another account from which she paid personal expenses. After Chicago Title withdrew as underwriter and revoked Profile Title's authority to act on its behalf, Heise and Hein continued to function as if Chicago Title was underwriting policies for Profile Title.
Also as part of the scheme to defraud, Heise and Hein failed to satisfy sellers' prior loans encumbering real property and other payouts according to the HUD-1 Settlement Statement.
Rachel Dollar, the editor of Mortgage Fraud Blog is an attorney and Certified Mortgage Banker who handles litigation for lending institutions and secondary market investors.