Former Art Institute of Chicago payroll supervisor will get three years in jail for embezzling greater than $2m
A former payroll supervisor on the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), who pleaded responsible in April to embezzling funds from the museum, has been sentenced to 3 years in jail. He’s additionally anticipated to pay again the roughly $2.3m he stole from the AIC.
Based on Alysa Guffey of the Chicago Tribune, a remorseful Michael Maurello appeared “visibly distressed” at his sentencing listening to on Thursday (16 November). “I truly apologise for what I did,” he mentioned. “The Art Institute was good to me, and I took advantage of that.”
Between 2007 and 2020, Maurello falsified funds to staff, funnelling payroll funds into his private financial institution accounts and going as far as to maintain spreadsheets of his transactions with the intention to later make reversals within the payroll system to hide his transfers. He spent most of the embezzled funds on fancy jewelry and lavish holidays to Hawaii and Las Vegas.
Throughout the sentencing, US District Choose Manish Shah famous the tact with which Maurello stole from the museum, which broke a “basic trust that keeps society from falling into anarchy”. Nonetheless, Shah’s sentence fell under the beneficial minimal of 4 years in jail and the utmost 20 that was cited in court docket this previous spring. This was largely on account of Maurello’s well being—he had damaged his neck as a youngster and, since this investigation started, his leg needed to be amputated on account of gangrene. (In court docket, Maurello’s brother pushed him in a wheelchair.)
Maurello’s lawyer mentioned his consumer had “disintegrated into the shell of a former man”. He has been residing in an assisted residing facility after being deserted by his husband of 20 years and far of the remainder of his household within the wake of his misdeeds being made public earlier this yr.
Maurello will spend his jail time period at a medical centre on account of his well being points, adopted by three years of supervised launch.
