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PORT ARTHUR, Texas - A Port Arthur woman has been sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay over $1.4 million in restitution in a wire fraud scam in the Eastern District of Texas.

What we know:

28-year-old Joanne Schiwart pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison by a U.S. District Judge on September 10, 2025.

Schiwart was ordered to pay restitution of $1,464,761.47.

According to information presented in court, as part of the fraud scheme over the course of a year, Schiwart wired over $1.4 million from an elderly victim’s retirement accounts by contacting the investment company by phone and using personally identifying information to impersonate the victim and mislead the investment company into thinking they were speaking with the a

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