In a highly unusual case, Texas regulators have taken over a title company amid allegations the owner disappeared with millions of dollars of customers' money.
The Texas Department of Insurance ordered the company, Millennium Title, to close last week, saying the company had less than $10,000 on hand to pay more than $100,000 in bills.
The year-old firm was based in Southlake but had offices in Frisco, Plano, Addison and Dallas.
Employees were dismissed, and state caretakers are now trying to close property transactions.
The move by the Texas Department of Insurance to liquidate Millennium comes amid questions about missing money and allegations the company founder, Nancy Carroll, has vanished.
Carroll is accused in a lawsuit, filed Friday in Tarrant County District Court by John Herlihy, of disappearing with funds he had put in escrow to sell some property.
The suit claimed Carroll has "left the country, absconding with over $1 million of his proceeds."
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A spokesman for the Texas Department of Insurance, which regulates title companies, says money in escrow up to $250,000 is insured.
"Most consumers won't see a disruption," said TDI spokesman Jerry Hagins. "It's an orderly process."
Anyone who has lost more than $250,000 may ultimately get their money back when the company is liquidated, he said.
The state set up this website for anyone in the middle of buying or selling property who has questions.
As for the whereabouts of the company's owner, NBC 5 was unable to find Carroll for comment.
A neighbor said he noticed someone moving out of her Keller home in the middle of the night last week, just a day or two before the state takeover.
Nobody answered the door at her house on Monday but stacks of moving boxes were visible in her driveway.
