They're trusted authorities or people to monitor the money and ensure the project doesn't just run off with the funds, and usually for auditing purposes post-ICO. The bigger point is they lied about it being in escrow, that's the huge flag.
How to access the trustworthiness of an escrow?
TBH I'm not sure, besides they've done many ICOs before. Maybe @SebastianJu can chime in. Look at his profile and posts and make a judgement yourself:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=18640 .
It feels like a scammer on eBay saying "let's do escrow" and then at the last second pulling it and saying, "No wait, give me the item first. I'll pay you later." It's shady and destroys trust. At least come on here and talk about it before, during, and after if you have concerns about the escrow, don't just pull it an hour before.