The former owner and president of an insurance company has been sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison after he was convicted on forgery charges.
Jay Morris Specter, 51, of Columbia, S.C., was convicted in January on five counts of making and passing forged checks totaling nearly $1 million.
U.S. District Judge Terry L. Wooten sentenced Specter on May 31 to 42 months in federal prison and ordered Specter to make full restitution.
Specter faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
In December 2001, Specter obtained a $5 million construction loan to build a call center for Insurall Casualty Group in Hemingway, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Reginald I. Lloyd.
The checks were made out to suppliers and other creditors, but prosecutors say Specter altered the checks to be payable to his company. The facility opened in February 2002 with 48 workers and expectations that it would hire as many as 200. When it closed a year later, fewer than 15 people worked there.
Information from: Morning News,
http://www.morningnewsonline.com/
Topics South Carolina
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