Press Release
Former Chief Operating Officer of Illinois Hospital Sentenced to Prison for Embezzling Hospital Funds
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois
CHICAGO — The former Chief Operating Officer of an Illinois hospital has been sentenced to a year and a half in federal prison for illegally pocketing more than $620,000 in hospital funds.
ROBERT SPADONI was an attorney who worked as a Vice President and COO of the hospital. From 2013 to 2021, Spadoni orchestrated a scheme in which he approved payment of invoices to a vendor company that purportedly provided the hospital with administrative support and compliance services. In reality, the vendor company – Medical Education Solutions, Inc. – had been established by Spadoni for the purpose of executing the scheme. Spadoni’s family member opened a bank account in the company’s name and steered the hospital’s payments into it. Spadoni concealed the fraud scheme by paying $1,500 a month in cash to another hospital employee to actually provide the administrative and compliance services.
As a result of the fraud scheme, Spadoni obtained approximately $622,500 in payments from the hospital. Spadoni used the money for his own benefit, including restaurant meals and hotel stays, as well as transferring $225,805 into a 401(k) account he controlled.
Spadoni, 59, of Darien, Ill., pleaded guilty earlier this year to a mail fraud charge. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly on Tuesday ordered Spadoni to pay $622,500 in restitution to the hospital.
The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, and Kwame Raoul, Illinois Attorney General. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Chester Choi.
Updated May 1, 2024
Topic
Financial Fraud