Cincinnati Attorney Sentenced in Approximate $2.5 Million Fraud Case
Kept Money from an Estate in Which He was Executor

CINCINNATI—Robert L. Schwartz, 70, an attorney in Cincinnati, was sentenced to 48 months in prison and three years of supervised release for committing mail fraud relative to keeping almost $2.5 million from an estate for which he was the executor instead of giving the money to the charitable organization for which it was intended, and for filing a false federal income tax return with the IRS. In addition, Schwartz was ordered to pay $2,292,469 to Hadassah Hospital and $935,217 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Schwartz pleaded guilty to the aforementioned charges on June 11, 2009.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Jose A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS); Keith L. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation Cincinnati Field Office (FBI), Gerald A. O’Farrell, Assistant Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Cincinnati Police Chief Thomas H. Streicher, Jr. announced the sentence handed down today by Senior United States District Judge Herman J. Weber.

According to court documents, Schwartz helped establish an estate plan and trust agreements for a client in 2003. When the client passed away in 2005, the estate was worth approximately $12 million. Schwartz was supposed to make distributions from the estate, including approximately $2,502,469 to the charitable organization, Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc., also known as Hadassah Hospital. Instead, Schwartz routed the majority of the trust funds through accounts or entities he controlled and used most of the money, more than $9 million, for personal expenditures and asset purchases for family members, employees, friends and close associates.

Schwartz reported gross receipts of $125,702 on his income tax return he filed for 2007, when his correct gross receipts were approximately $932,441.

Stewart commended the cooperative investigation by IRS and FBI agents and Postal inspectors that led to a successful prosecution as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Barry, who is prosecuting the case.