The head of a former Monticello, N.Y., insurance company was sentenced to 10 years and one month in federal prison for selling $545 million in fraudulent security bonds and stealing $22.5 million in premiums.

William Raymond Miller, 27, the former chief underwriting officer for Upper Hudson National Insurance Co. received the sentence in U.S. District Court in Florida after pleading guilty to mail and wire fraud in December 2008, according to the New York State Insurance Department.

The court also ordered a personal money judgment of $22 million against Miller.

Miller, of Clarksville, Md., has already forfeited $22.5 million to the federal government, along with real estate in Maryland and Florida.

Investigators in New York and other states began looking into surety bonds Miller sold between 2005 and April 2008, according to the department.

Miller was accused of forging documents and pocketing premiums instead of turning over the money to insurers to issue the bonds for construction projects throughout the United States.

Through a plea agreement with federal authorities, Miller admitted to using the names of several corporations to sell the worthless bonds and made it appear he was issuing the bonds in the names of legitimate insurers.

Miller was fired by the Monticello insurance company in 2008 after it learned he sold a worthless $38 million performance bond purportedly authorized by Upper Hudson, New York regulators said. He was accused of keeping $1.9 million in premiums paid for the bond by a construction company engages in a project in Nebraska.

Following the discovery, Upper Hudson also contacted authorities about Miller’s actions.