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March 20, 2003 Former corporate CEO sentenced to fifteen years.Susan W. Brooks, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, announced that DAVID H. SWANSON, age 60, Amenia, New York, was sentenced to one hundred eighty (180) months imprisonment today by U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Barker following his conviction at trial October 10, 2002 for fraud by wire, receipt of stolen money, money laundering and tax evasion. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. United States Attorney Susan W. Brooks said, "This prosecution demonstrates the government's commitment to pursuing executive fraud. When CEOs destroy companies such as Countrymark for their personal gain, the federal government will seek justice for the employees, the shareholders and the board of directors. We believe that this significant sentence of fifteen years provides some sense of justice for the victims for the crimes committed by Mr. Swanson." Assistant United States Attorney Charles Goodloe, Jr., lead counsel for the government, commented on the sentencing: "Based on the evidence before the Court, the Sentencing Guidelines require a lengthy term of imprisonment for the offenses involved in this case." United States Attorney Susan W. Brooks highlighted the Court's reasoning. "The Court in imposing sentence pointed out the extent of the fraud perpetrated by the defendant and commented extensively about the power he yielded. He had "the authority to hire and fire; he controlled vast sums of money; he was given the power to make decisions about other's money; and those many individuals who wrote the court letters felt they were lied to or ‘snookered.'" The Court also recognized the arrogance of the defendant and his willingness to use money for his personal benefit such as the condominium in Switzerland, "wining and dining" in New York and the 60 acre farm in upstate New York, all the while destroying the financial security of so many employees and shareholders. SWANSON was originally scheduled for sentencing on January 24, 2003; he did not appear for that sentencing and a warrant was issued for his immediate arrest by U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker, who presided over the matter. The United States Marshals Service began a search for Swanson, which ended with the arrest of the defendant by Deputy Marshals at a hotel in Seattle, Washington on February 14. Swanson was returned to Indiana by the United States Marshals Service approximately two weeks ago, and Judge Barker re-scheduled his sentencing. Brooks stated that "When a defendant fails to appear for sentencing, federal law provides for a separate charge for that failure to appear and the defendant is entitled to a trial on that charge as in any other criminal proceeding. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, however, provide for a disposition of a failure to appear as an enhancement of the sentence for the charge on which the defendant was originally convicted. The United States Attorney has discretion on whether to seek a new indictment for a defendant's failure to appear and in this case, she decided against a separate criminal charge. SWANSON's failure to appear was treated as obstruction of justice, an aggravating factor in the calculation of his sentence for the original charge, which resulted in a two level upward adjustment of his sentence. Independent of the Court's finding that the failure to appear supported an upward adjustment of his sentence calculation, the United States offered evidence for obstruction of justice on other grounds, which included the submission of false information to the probation department concerning his assets and income, and presenting false information to a Magistrate Judge at his July, 2001 initial appearance. While the Court did not depart upward for the submission of false information, the Court did sentence the defendant to the upper end of the allowable sentencing guidelines range of 180 months out of a possible 188 months. Assistant United States Attorney Charles Goodloe Jr., with the aid of Assistant United States Attorney James P. Hanson, presented to a jury substantial evidence of a scheme demonstrating that David H. SWANSON obtained more than $2.7 million dollars from Countrymark Cooperative, Inc. during 1996 and 1997. Countrymark was a regional farm cooperative which provided products and services to farmers in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. SWANSON became the Chief Executive Officer of Countrymark in January 1996. DAVID H. SWANSON, was formerly the Chief Financial Officer at Continental Grain Co. based in New York City, the Chief Executive Officer of Central Soya, based in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and a consultant to Archer Daniels Midland of Decatur, Illinois, before becoming the Chief Executive Officer at Countrymark. Judge Barker also imposed 3 years supervised release following SWANSON's release from imprisonment. SWANSON was ordered to forfeit the sum of $53,847,388 and was ordered to immediately pay $5,526,392 in restitution to seven various entities. SWANSON was also fined $50,000. |