Oct 11, 2024
The former CEO of Loretto Hospital has been named in a new indictment by federal prosecutors for his alleged role in a $15 million embezzlement scheme.George Miller, 73, faces a count of conspiracy to defraud in a superseding indictment filed Wednesday in federal court in Chicago, according to records.He is the fourth person named in an alleged fraud scheme in which the small West Side hospital was billed for goods and services it had not received between 2018 and 2022.Miller left Loretto as CEO and president in 2022 under a cloud of allegations of financial mismanagement that stemmed from earlier allegations he abused his access to COVID-19 vaccinations at a time when supplies were limited.The hospital’s former Chief Financial Officer, Anosh Ahmed, was charged in July with wire fraud, embezzlement, aiding and abetting embezzlement and money laundering.Former chief transformation officer, Heather Bergdahl, was charged earlier this spring and faces allegations she embezzled $500,000 with Ahmed.Sameer Suhail, 47, towner of a medical supply company, also has been charged.Loretto, 645 S. Central Ave. in the city’s Austin neighborhood, treats primarily low-income and elderly patients, two groups who were among those most at risk during the coronavirus pandemic.The hospital was picked to distribute the first COVID-19 vaccines when they became available in late 2020, WBEZ has reported.Block Club Chicago first reported allegations that the hospital vaccinated people connected to the hospital who did not qualify at the time, including employees at Trump Tower, where Ahmed owned a condominium.The city responded by cutting off the hospital’s access to vaccinations for a time.The criminal charges faced by the four stem from allegations that they created fraudulent payment requests through a computerized vendor system for goods and services that had not been delivered.Miller, along with Ahmed, is accused of approving hospital contracts with vendors connected to Suhail in return for kickbacks that were deposited in bank accounts in their names, according to the indictment. An attorney for Miller did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
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