The chief financial officer for a Twin Cities title and escrow company pleaded guilty on Friday in federal court to diverting nearly $135,000 from a secret escrow account for a down payment on her home in Buffalo.

As part of her plea agreement, Christine Hein, 39, agreed to testify against the owner of Profile Title & Escrow Corp., Molly L. Heise, of Greenfield.

Both women had been charged with scheming to defraud the company's underwriter, Chicago Title Insurance Co. The government says they defrauded Chicago Title, and possibly some lenders, by depositing more than $370 million in loan proceeds in a secret bank account from June 2002 through December 2003.

Heise allegedly spent more than $2 million from the account on houses, landscaping, a Hummer, a motorhome, a Wisconsin cabin and a boat.

Hein admitted in court Friday that she wrote a check for $134,965.85 from the account for a down payment on her home. Her plea agreement anticipates a sentence of 21 to 27 months in prison, two to three years of supervised release, and restitution. If she aids the case against Heise, Assistant U.S. Attorney David MacLaughlin may move for a reduced sentence.

Profile Title was primarily a loan closing operation.

Hein told U.S. District Judge John Tunheim that the company had accounting problems in 2002. Chicago Title audited the books and required Profile to use an escrow account at Eagle Valley Bank, which could be monitored. She said Profile Title secretly opened an account at Eastbank, through which it routed millions of dollars.

The indictment says that after Chicago Title revoked Profile Title's underwriting agreement, Heise and Hein issued counterfeit Chicago Title closing letters to their clients' lenders. They also allegedly failed to pay off some of the property liens despite saying that they had done so.

Hein pleaded guilty to one count of spending money derived from an unlawful activity. The fraud scheme charge and one count of promotion money laundering will be dismissed as part of her plea agreement.

Dan Browning • 612-673-4493