Springfield businessman sentenced in insurance fraud scheme

Friday, November 16, 2018, Vol. 42, No. 46

NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee businessman has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison and ordered to repay millions of dollars in a health insurance fraud scheme.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee says 51-year-old Bart Sidney Posey of Springfield was sentenced Tuesday and ordered to pay $6.5 million in restitution.

A prosecutor's office release says Posey pleaded guilty in January and admitted to denying legitimate health insurance claims. It says he also admitted to selling insurance not backed by a legitimate underwriter and embezzling millions of dollars in premiums. It says Posey used the premiums to buy a motorcycle, a sports car and football tickets and to pay off a personal mortgage.

The release says there were more than 17,000 victims of the scheme nationwide.