FBI raids closed Woodbury title firm

The FBI raided Titleserv in Woodbury Wednesday morning, a little more than two weeks after the national title insurance agent closed suddenly.

FBI spokesman Jim Margolin said agents went with a search warrant as part of an "ongoing investigation." The search started at 8 a.m. and continued into the early afternoon, ending with agents leaving with boxes of records, he said.

Margolin declined to give details, beyond saying that the FBI is working with the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District, which covers Long Island. A spokesman for that office declined to comment.

The company, which also offered appraisal and settlement services, shut down April 8, letting go its 160 or so employees, starting in a morning meeting at its Woodbury headquarters, one former employee said, then in a series of phone conferences for workers across the nation.

No one answered phones Wednesday at Titleserv, a 25- year-old business whose website said it did work in 47 states. And no reasons for the closing were given in an email that president James Conway III sent to Newsday shortly after the shutdown.

One of his sales agents, Kevin Reddington, who is now on unemployment, said, "I'm kind of disappointed because I did enjoy working for the company, and I really didn't see it coming. It's kind of a letdown. There were a lot of good people who worked there."