COLUMBUS, Ohio — Three family members who pleaded guilty to laundering nearly $3 million obtained through a life insurance scheme were sentenced Thursday in federal court.
Mitch Stevenson, 55, confessed to providing false information when he bought two expansive life insurance policies for a fourth relative, whom he claimed was healthy and collected an annual income of $133,000. In reality, the relative was in poor health and unemployed.
The relative died. Stevenson’s wife, 58-year-old Patricia Stevenson, and his daughter, 31-year-old Candace, received the money and spent part of it on a car, a house, home decor and jewelry.
According to United States Attorney Benjamin Glassman, who prosecuted the case, the family also “engaged in a complex sequence of transactions designed to conceal and disguise the ownership of the proceeds of the life insurance fund,” including opening eight different bank accounts to hide the source of the money.
Mitch Stevenson was sentenced Thursday to 43 months in prison. His wife and daughter were sentenced to 24 months of probation.
The family also agreed to repay the life insurance company and forfeit the home they purchased with the ill-obtained cash.
