A former chief executive officer of a statistical agent that compiles data from insurance companies for
state insurance departments has been sentenced on charges related to her theft of millions of dollars from the organization.
According to court records out of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Theresa Szwast earl
y this month was sentenced to 33 months in prison on a wire fraud charge. The court also said Szwast, who was
the CEO of the National Independent Statistical Service (NISS) from 2
005 to 2022, must pay restitution of the nearly $2.2 million she stole, plus pay a fine of $5,000. She will have supervised release for 2 years after prison.
Szwast was originally indicted in October 2024 on 11 counts of wire fraud. She was arrested on Oct. 23 of that year. In May 2025, Szwast changed an original plea of not guilty to guilty on one count of wire fraud.
According to the federal indictment, Szwast “devised and executed a scheme to defraud” Indianapolis-base
d NISS beginning around September 2005 until at least May 2022. Szwast, of Fishers, Indiana, transferred fun
ds from the organization to her personal credit accounts, and wrote hundreds of checks to herself, said the indictment. She spent the money on golf, travel, and wine.
As CEO of NISS, for which she was paid about $188,000 in 2022, Szwast “was entrusted with maintaining
an accurate accounting of the books and records for [NISS], as well as contracting with a certified public accounting
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firm to conduct annual financial audits of [NISS]’s finances.” She never contracted with an outside CPA, federal attorneys
alleged, and falsified audit reports and financial statements to the NISS board.
About a year ago, a Marion Superior Court judge in Indiana issued a default judgement in NISS’s favor against
Szwast for her failure to comply with court procedure. In the c
ase, NISS said it suffered a loss of about $438,226. The court awarded treble damages of about $1.3 million.
In September 2022 Jeff Paterson was appointed interim CEO of NISS to replace Szwast, who left after nearly 30
years of service, according to NISS. Patterson was made fulltime president and CEO in May 2023.