Ex-Illinois County Chairman, State Farm Consultant Sentenced in Fraud Case

Article

A former Illinois county board chairman who also previously worked for State Farm Insurance Co. as a consultant has been sentenced to 12 months and a day in federal prison after being convicted of a wire fraud scheme.

In November, Matt Sorensen, 51, pleaded guilty to defrauding the Chicago consulting firm McKinsey and Co. of nearly $500,000, The Pantagraph reported.

Sorensen, a former McLean County Board chairman, was indicted in August 2015 on five wire fraud counts in connection with his duties as an internal consultant for State Farm.

Authorities said the fraud took place between 2003 and 2012.

Sorensen stopped working with State Farm about three years ago and resigned his county board seat shortly after the indictment.

“I should have known better,” Sorensen said. “I did know better but I agreed to take it.”

Stuart Chanen, Sorensen’s attorney, said he and his client were “pleased with the sentence.”

“The judge took the whole person into account and the service Matt provided to the community over many, many years,” Chanen said.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to consider a more than two-year sentence.

Sorensen is required to report for federal custody Nov. 27. He must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence and will be on parole for a year after he’s released.