A judge sentenced a former Montgomery County, Md., malpractice lawyer to 5 years in prison. Bradley Schwartz was convicted of stealing more than $1 million in client funds.

Circuit Court Judge Steve G. Salant imposed a sentence longer than recommended by state guidelines.

Salant was convicted of dipping into a client escrow account, and using money due one client to pay another. His scheme came to a halt toward the end of 2008. Schwartz received an e-mail from a so-called manufacturer who proposed that Schwartz help the company collect debts in the United States. The manufacturer sent Schwartz a $385,000 retainer. The manufacturer intended Schwartz to send a part of the money back before realizing the cashier's check was phony.

Recommended For You

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.