A 47-year-old Harlingen, Texas, man was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for a scheme to defraud a Rio Grande Valley hospital of more than $3.8 million by selling it nonexistent and altered insurance policies.
Michael N. Swetnam Jr. was sentenced to three years’ supervised release and ordered to pay $2.95 million in restitution to Valley Baptist Hospital. A jury found Swetnam guilty of three counts of mail fraud in May. Officials said Swetnam, a licensed insurance broker in the Brownsville area, sold the hospital both nonexistent windstorm policies and excess liability policies with premium amounts Swetnam altered after receiving the policies from the insurer.
Swetnam was charged in June 2009 with conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. The indictment alleged that Swetnam, of Los Fresnos, Texas, and another man who has been acquitted of the charges, schemed to defraud Valley Baptist Hospital out of approximately $4 million dollars in connection with the sale of surplus lines of insurance and insurance for hurricanes from 2006-2008.
Valley Baptist is the largest provider of medical services in South Texas.
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