The managing partner of the Messner Reeves office in Salt Lake City has been accused of misappropriating more than $10 million from escrow deposits in two federal lawsuits. According to allegations, Torben M. Welch engaged in racketeering activities by siphoning funds from borrowers who deposited money into an escrow account for loans from a sham lender, INBE Capital Group. The lawsuits, filed in both the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, describe a scheme where borrowers had to place substantial amounts of money upfront to secure loans, a practice deemed highly irregular.
Attorney Howard W. Foster, representing the plaintiffs in the Utah lawsuit, commented on the unusual nature of the scheme: “It’s a very unusual thing for borrowers to take out huge sums of money to be able to borrow money. It’s backwards; you have to put up a ton of money in order to borrow money. I’ve never heard of anything like that. It’s not going to stop until the court steps in.” For further details, you can read the original article.