Just days after officials from Detroit Riverfront Conservancy requested that former chief financial officer William Smith receive the maximum 20-year sentence for what prosecutors called one of the largest and most expensive criminal schemes in Detroit's history,

William Smith, the former CFO of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, who pleaded guilty in a $40 million embezzlement case, was sentenced Thursday to 19 years in federal prison. Smith, 52, is also responsible for $48 million in restitution and will be on supervised release for three years once he serves out his sentence.