Execs charged

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=210 BGCOLOR="#006633" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="132d6c00ddvuru.jpg"> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="prorock_to_conceal_evidence.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="prorock"><U>Winnebago County States Attorney Hides White Collar Crime by Prosecuting Senior Citizen Victim</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="liable.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="liable"><U>Title Company Not Held Liable For Employee's Conspiracy To Commit Fraud</U></A></div> <bR> <div>  <a href="http://www.wellsofjustice.org/pdf/ussc 03-05.pdf" target="new">Rooker-Feldman doctrine clarified</a>  </div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="richest_insurance_racket.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Racket"><U>Inside America's Richest</U></A> <A HREF="richest_insurance_racket.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Racket"><U>Insurance Racket</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="fidelity_sued.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Realty Times"><U>Suit</U></A><A HREF="fidelity_sued.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Realty Times"><U><B> </B></U></A><A HREF="fidelity_sued.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Realty Times"><U>Seeks Billions From Fidelity</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=115 BGCOLOR="#0000CC" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Main"><U><B>Home Page</B></U></A><B>  -  </B><A HREF="background.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Background"><U><B>Background</B></U></A><B>  -  </B><A HREF="news.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="In The News"><U><B>In The News</B></U></A><B>  -  </B><A HREF="gasb_fraud.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="gasb"><U><B>German American State Bank Fraud</B></U></A><B>  -  </B><A HREF="davis_bank_fraud.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="davis"><U><B>State Bank of Davis Fraud</B></U></A><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>-  </B><A HREF="records_confirmed.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="confirmed"><U><B>Property Title Records Confirmed</B></U></A><B>  </B><B>-  </B><A HREF="title_fraud__i_.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bankruptcy Court/Title Company Fraud, Pa"><U><B>Bankruptcy Court/Title Company Scheme (1)</B></U></A><B> </B><B> -</B></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="letter.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="letter"><U><B>Letter to Stockholders of FNF</B></U></A><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFBF0" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>-  </B><A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Conflict of Interest"><U><B>Paul Logli and Conflicts of Interest</B></U></A></FONT></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=365 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> </B><B> <A NAME="back_to_top"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>  </B></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Execs Charged In Chicago Trust Fraud Case</B></div> <div> <B>August 12, 2003</B></div> <div>  </div> <div>  </div> <bR> <div> Five executives were charged Tuesday with looting $80 million from a trust company and a real estate title company in what officials described as one of Chicago's largest financial fraud cases. </div> <bR> <div> Thousands of trust accounts at the Independent Trust Corp., known as "Intrust,'' were skimmed and the money used to keep the floundering title insurance company afloat, the 17-count indictment said. </div> <bR> <div> Cash from trust accounts was also used to hire friends and relatives at Intercounty Title Co. of Illinois, pay off personal credit cards and even renovate a golf course, the indictment said. </div> <bR> <div> "They stole $80 million, driven by pure greed,'' U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told a news conference. Intrust collapsed in 2000, but even before then state regulators had expressed concern about the practice of transferring money from the trust accounts to the title company, federal officials said. </div> <bR> <div> They said Intrust officials lied to the regulators, in one case claiming in writing that a trust account that contained $45,000 actually had assets worth $55 million. Ten thousand holders of trust accounts at Intrust were victimized by the fraud, according to the indictment. It said a total of $50 million was taken out of the accounts and poured into Intercounty escrow accounts. </div> <bR> <div> That money plus an additional $30 million was taken out of the escrow accounts, according to the indictment. Two of those charged, Laurence W. Capriotti, 58, of Frankfort, Ill., and Jack L. Hargrove, 62, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., controlled both Intrust and Intercounty, federal officials said. </div> <bR> <div> Three other Intercounty executives in Illinois, Michel D. Thyfault, 56, of LaGrange; James R. Wallwin, 53, of Darien; and George J. Stimac, 41, of Chicago, also were charged with fraud as a result of the alleged scheme. </div> <bR> <div> Prosecutors said Wallwin and Stimac were cooperating in the case and were expected to plead guilty. A message seeking comment from their lawyer was not immediately returned Tuesday. </div> <bR> <div> The lawyer for Capriotti also did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But lawyers for Hargrove and Thyfault said their clients would plead innocent. None of the 10,000 trust accounts skimmed were insured, officials said. </div> <bR> <div> The $30 million in Intercounty escrowed funds allegedly stolen as part of the scheme were covered by a title reinsurance company, Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. of New York, federal officials said. </div> <bR> <div> Fitzgerald said the troubles at Intercounty began in the early 1980s with a sour investment in the junk bond market that left a $10 million shortfall. The company allegedly covered it with escrow account money. </div> <bR> <div> The company's problems were worsened by a title-insurance price war, officials said. They said the company lost more than $6 million in 1987 and that the annual deficit grew to $20 million after 1990. </div> <bR> <div> According to the indictment, the scheme went on for more than a decade. Among other things, it said, Intrust mailed bogus account statements to trust holders concealing the thefts. </div> <bR> <div> The indictment said $70 million of the $80 million was used to prop up Intercounty while executives spent the other $10 million on personal activities.</div> <div>  </div> <bR> <div> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  </div> <div> Copyright © 2004, All Rights Reserved MobMagazine.com </div> <div>  </div> <div>  </div> <div> <A HREF="prorock_to_conceal_evidence_back_to_top.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="prorock"><U><B>Back to Top</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>