Old Republic hunts $525k lost in Citibank fraud
Old Republic National Title Insurance Company sued Citibank to reclaim more than 525,000 dollars after fraudsters posed as property owners and stole money from a land deal. The title insurer paid the buyer 559,984 dollars under its policy after discovering the scam. Someone pretending to be Jerome Novak convinced an escrow company to wire the funds on May 8 to a Citibank account.
Old Republic tried to reverse the transfer on July 14 after realizing the King County property sale was a fake. The bank refused to return the money. The insurer filed its complaint on October 15 in federal court in California, asking a judge to declare it the rightful owner of the funds and force Citibank to hand them over through a constructive trust.
