View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2001/04/26/12336.htm
Fallen insurance agent Albert W. Lawrence may miss out on jail time due to the fact that he is a very sick man.
According to reports in New York’s Times Union, a federal prosecutor claims Lawrence, 72, who had been slated to report to federal prison last week to start serving a 37-month sentence, may stay out of jail until the terminal cancer that he is stricken with takes his life. His surrender date of April 19 was moved back to May 1 when it was disclosed that he is suffering from stomach cancer which has since spread to both his liver and lymph nodes.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William C. Pericak indicated earlier this week that there are a number of procedural means that could keep Lawrence away from jail indefinitely.
The New York man was found guilty last June at a Syracuse trial of embezzling $37 million from policyholders, his companies and employees, along with the U.S. government. Lawrence had owned a number of insurance companies, and following a series of sentencing postponements, was sentenced last month to 37 months in federal prison when he could have received eight to 10 years.
Lawrence’s attorney, Michael L. Koenig, who represents an Albany law firm, has not offered whether he would move forward with a petition to postpone his client’s sentence further, stating that he wanted to prevent further publicity to his client and the case.
Lawrence may also avoid jail time by a move from the Federal Bureau of Prisons which would possibly commute his sentence as a result of “compassionate relief.”