but you sent your documents, this is a big problem.
Scammer was red-tagged months ago. There is no indication of him/her ever conducting any legitimate deal. No excuse for the OP to deal with this shithead, escrow or no escrow.
You are right, newbie mistake. I rushed into this. I never did proper DD on him. Only after i placed an order i noticed he is not trustworthy.
Also some answers to my questions also raised suspicion but again only after i sent escrow funds.