Fin. Code, § 17414 · Chapter 3. Escrow Regulations
Fin. Code, § 17414
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) It is a violation for any person subject to this division or any director, stockholder, trustee, officer, agent, or employee of any such person to do any of the following:
(1) Knowingly or recklessly disburse or cause the disbursal of escrow funds otherwise than in accordance with escrow instructions, or knowingly or recklessly to direct, participate in, or aid or abet in a material way, any activity which constitutes theft or fraud in connection with any escrow transaction.
(2) Knowingly or recklessly make or cause to be made any misstatement or omission to state a material fact, orally or in writing, in escrow books, accounts, files, reports, exhibits, statements, or any other document pertaining to an escrow or escrow affairs.
(b) Any director, officer, stockholder, trustee, employee, or agent of an escrow agent, who abstracts or willfully misappropriates money, funds, trust obligations or property deposited with an escrow agent, is guilty of a felony. Upon conviction, of an offense under this section or similar offenses specified in Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 470), Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 484), or Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 503) of Title 13 of Part 1 of the Penal Code, the court shall, in addition to any other punishment imposed, order the person to make full restitution, first to the escrow agent and then to Fidelity Corporation, to the extent it has indemnified the escrow agent. Nothing in this section shall be deemed or construed to repeal, amend, or impair any existing provision of law prescribing a punishment for such an offense.
(c) Any person subject to this division who knows of a person’s involvement in an abstraction or misappropriation of money, funds, trust obligations, or property deposited with a licensed escrow agent shall immediately report the abstraction or misappropriation in writing to the commissioner and to Fidelity Corporation. No person shall be civilly liable for reporting as required under this subdivision, unless the information provided in the report is false and the person providing false information does so with knowledge and malice. The reports filed under this section, including the identity of the person making the filing, shall remain confidential pursuant to state law.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 423, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1995.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=FIN§ionNum=17414.
- Text hash
- sha256 0b572d6caa667f5a3f58c90294facef186cffc19ff1a9fc7c948391c80a34d6f
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, pt. 1, tit. 13, ch. 4Forgery and CounterfeitingPrinted as Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 470) … of the Penal Code
- Pen. Code, pt. 1, tit. 13, ch. 5LarcenyPrinted as Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 484) … of the Penal Code
- Pen. Code, pt. 1, tit. 13, ch. 6EmbezzlementPrinted as Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 503) of Title 13 of Part 1 of the Penal Code
Cited by 1 provision
Provisions in this library whose text cites Fin. Code, § 17414. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Financial Code
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