Owner of Woodbridge Business Facing 11 Years in Jail

Woodbridge, NJ — A man who owned a Woodbridge-based title company was sentenced to 11 years in state prison Monday for admitting he stole $7.7 million in mortgage money, New Jersey’s acting Attorney General John Hoffman announced.

Robert Sebia, 50, of Wilkes Barre, Pa., owned Crystal Title Agency, LLC, which operated out of 900 Rt. 9, Suite 403 in Woodbridge.

As part of his job as a settlement agent, Sebia would secure loans from banks, ostensibly meant to pay off the mortgage when a home was bought or sold. But instead, Sebia diverted the money for his own personal use, Attorney General Hoffman says. Sebia threw lavish parties with the stolen money and paid for his own extravagant personal expenses, including travel, entertainment, luxurious goods and rent.

“Sebia spent far beyond his means in both his professional life and his personal life, covering his extravagant expenses by crookedly stealing millions from clients,” said Hoffman. “He was a thief in a business suit — a very prolific thief — and it has earned him a very lengthy prison sentence.”

In total, Sebia admitted that he stole approximately $7.7 million in loans — money that was supposed to pay off more than 28 outstanding mortgages on New Jersey homes.

In classic Ponzi scheme style, Sebia would use the proceeds from new mortgages and real estate closings to pay off older mortgages, alleges the AG. He was able to avoid detection because, in some cases, Sebia would continue to pay a seller’s monthly mortgage payments to the bank even though the property had been sold. Since the bank continued to receive monthly payments, it was unaware the property had been sold and that anything was amiss.

First American Title Insurance Company, which insured titles on the properties, is paying off the mortgages in full for the affected homeowners. In fact, it was First American that first reported their suspicions about Sebia to the state Department of Banking and Insurance.

As part of his plea, he had to surrender his New Jersey insurance license and pay restitution of $7.7 million to First American.

Crystal Title is no longer in business.