A title agent in Pennsylvania allegedly used $5.6m in client money to fund his gambling. A lawsuit filing explains how Louis Belletieri used an escrow fund to make transfers to sports betting accounts, as well as to purchase precious metals like gold bars. His company Legacy Title was working on behalf of the plaintiff Fidelity National Title at the time.

Belletieri was the only individual who could access these funds

Belletieri’s role as a title agent is to process real estate-related transactions. This means using the money from the selling of a property to pay off the relevant fees, mortgages, liens, and taxes before transferring the remaining balance to the seller. An escrow account for Legacy Title that was used for these types of dealings was down $5.6m and Belletieri was the only individual who could access this money.

Fidelity began receiving complaints last month from sellers about insufficient funds and Belletieri didn’t respond to questions about the discrepancies. He proceeded to close his own business and refused an audit request by Fidelity. One woman reportedly lost $224,000 after selling the home of her late mother; the check bounced when she attempted to deposit it into her bank account.

The plaintiff has requested that the judge allow it to look further into Legacy Title’s financials and try to block any more funds from being transferred away from its accounts.