Art Institute of Chicago, credit: Philippe Cendron via Wikipedia
This week, a former payroll manager at the Art Institute of Chicago pleaded guilty in federal court. He had been charged with fraud in January for stealing more than $2 million from the museum over a 13-year period. The written plea agreement states that between 2007 and 2020 Michael Maurello sent payments from the museum's payroll system to his own bank account at JP Morgan Chase. According to the indictment filed in the Chicago District Court, Mr. Maurello said that these payments for accrued vacation pay and negative payroll deductions for life insurance premiums, payroll taxes and reimbursement of tuition fees have been made for the benefit of other staff members or former workers. Maurello was able to conceal the alleged plan by using spreadsheets and notes in the museum's payroll system to keep track of redirected money. When Maurello was asked about one of these payments in January 2020 by the Art Institute's accounting assistant, he said it was a test of the payroll system.
In a press release, the Northern District of Illinois Attorney's Office said, "Maurello subsequently edited and modified a report from the museum's payroll system to conceal information about the stolen money." In particular, it changed the names of the employees as well as the dates and amounts of the payments. As a result of the case, the Art Institute of Chicago said it has implemented new methods to detect wage theft in the future. The money that has disappeared is reimbursed by the insurance. A museum spokesperson told the Chicago Sun-Times in January, "The total loss is significant, but because it occurred over a long period of time and in different ways, it did not affect staffing decisions. , salaries, scholarship funding, programming or other financial aspects of the organization". On September 14, Maurello, who is 56, will be sentenced. According to the prosecutor's office, he could receive a sentence of 20 years in prison and 3 years of probation if convicted. Mr. Maurello could also face a fine of up to $250,000 or double the gross gain or loss from his crime, whichever is greater. He will also have to pay the museum compensation of $2.3 million.
Selena Mattei