Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Shortfall in Escrow Firm’s Fund Reaches $2.6 Million : Real estate: It is unclear where Country Oaks’ money went, officials say. Its accounts are transferred.

The scandal surrounding the Country Oaks Escrow Co. grew Wednesday when estimates of the amount missing from the firm’s trust fund rose to $2.6 million, just as a deal to transfer the troubled agency’s cases was finalized.

Originally, authorities believed that $2 million was missing from the company’s trust fund. Country Oaks was shut down by state regulators Friday after the shortfall was noted in a routine audit. High-ranking company officials have said that they were told by the owner, Kathy Wiener, that her husband, Harold Wiener, had taken the funds to use for business operating expenses.

Allen Eggers, one of the state-appointed conservators for the company, said the audit of the firm is still several days away from completion.

“We’re making progress. We don’t have any conclusions yet,” he said.

It is still unclear where the missing money from the $4.5-million trust fund went, Eggers said, or how it was taken.

The shutdown left more than 2,000 escrows, mostly residential transactions, in limbo as investigators combed through the firm’s financial files. State officials said the missing money is insured by the Escrow Agents Fidelity Corp. Representatives for the nonprofit agency said they are conducting their own audit, which should be finished by the end of the week, at which time they will decide if they will make up the missing money and how much.

In the meantime, telephones at Country Oaks offices were being answered “Burrow Escrow Co.” after state officials on Wednesday granted new licenses to the firm’s four branch offices that were being taken over by the Santa Ana-based escrow company.

Eggers said the 48-year-old firm was chosen over a Fullerton-based one primarily because it promised to keep the 105 employees of the now-defunct Country Oaks.

A Burrow official said that the takeover was significantly larger than one the company had done last year and that this was the first time it had gone so far as to occupy a defunct company’s branch offices.

“The great thing that we’re really excited about is the caliber of the employees here,” said Andrea Bertrand, vice president and general manager of Burrow. “It’s an entry to the market for us too.”

Burrow has seven offices in Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, and is making its first venture into Los Angeles County with Country Oaks’ four offices in Valencia, Palmdale, Lancaster and Arcadia.

Burrow will pay a per-case fee for each of the 2,000 Country Oaks files it takes over, Eggers said. A price for each file was not disclosed.