BALTIMORE — Former medical malpractice attorney Stephen L. Snyder has been sentenced.
Snyder was found guilty back in November 2024 of attempting to extort the University of Maryland Medical Center from January 2018 through September 2018 after a nine-day trial.
Officials say Snyder's extortion attempt came in the form of trying to "destroy" UMMC's transplant department unless the University of Maryland Medical System paid him $25 million personally and separate from any settlement with his client.
In detail, Snyder threatened to fully launch a public relations campaign that would falsely accuse UMMC of fooling unsophisticated patients into accepting diseased organs.
He said he would run a front-page ad, hold a press conference, and make an internet advertisement shifting anyone searching for the UMMC transplant program to his law firm.
More threats from Snyder indicated he would make commercials conveying a false message, accusing UMMC of putting "profits over safety."
These commercials were played during meetings with attorneys representing UMMS.
Snyder claimed that the parties could enter into a sham consulting agreement that would provide cover for the $25 million.
The threats and demands from Snyder were made over a plethora of meetings and phone calls with attorneys for UMMS in 2018.
One of the meetings was recorded by federal law enforcement using hidden video cameras.
When initially charged, Snyder faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
On Wednesday, a U.S. District Judge sentenced Snyder, 77, to three years of probation with six months of home confinement for one count of attempted extortion and seven counts of the Travel Act.
