Personal injury attorney to plead guilty to stealing $1.5M from Mount Pleasant law firm, clients
- SCCLR Newsletter
- Feb 24
- 2 min read
By: Kailey Cota
MOUNT PLEASANT — A suspended personal injury attorney allegedly stole $1.5 million from his law firm and clients, public records show.
William Christopher Swett was a licensed personal injury attorney who focused on asbestos and mesothelioma litigation at the Motley Rice law firm in Mount Pleasant. Between 2018 and March 2024, he committed four counts of wire fraud and four counts of money laundering, according to a plea agreement filed in federal court Feb. 23.
Swett “made some poor and regretful decisions,” while he was struggling with personal challenges that he has since worked to overcome, defense attorney Nathan Williams told the newspaper on behalf of his client.
The plea agreement “reflects part of his efforts to take accountability for his past decisions and actions,” Williams said.
The allegations include submitting sham reimbursement requests for fake clients with made-up personal injury and death claims that he deceived his firm into believing were real clients by submitting false medical documents and fake email exchanges.
He also allegedly siphoned his client’s funds into accounts associated with two businesses that he established and did not disclose the nature of his relationship with, records allege.
Swett also directed his wife, who had been his paralegal since 2015, to request reimbursement for illegitimate expenses and services he didn’t perform. The two married in 2021, but the law firm did not learn about their relationship until late 2022.
If the law firm had known about their relationship, she would have been reassigned to another attorney. The firm and his wife were not named in the documents. She has since been fired, records show.
In an attempt to conceal his scheme, Swett transferred thousands of dollars between his bank accounts.
The S.C. Supreme Court suspended Swett’s law license in 2024. He graduated from the University of South Carolina’s School of Law in 2009, according to public records from the state bar.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, but the government agreed to ask the court to reduce the sentence if Swett complies with the terms of the plea agreements and pays restitution, records show.
A hearing is not yet scheduled. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Limehouse, who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment on the matter.
Swett has also run into trouble in state court. In October 2025, a judge ordered him to pay more than $58,000 in debt to the American Express National Bank, which sued.
A loan company filed another debt collection suit against Swett in Charleston County the next month, public records show. He allegedly owes that company more than $53,000. The suit remains pending.
