Former Art Institute of Chicago payroll manager charged with stealing over $2 million
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The former payroll manager of the Art Institute of Chicago has been indicted on charges that he embezzled more than $2 million from the museum.
A grand jury indictment handed down Thursday charged Michael Maurello with fraudulently obtaining funds from the Art Institute for 13 years – from 2007 until 2020.
The indictment said Maurello had funds from the museum paid into his personal bank accounts by disguising the payments in the payroll system as having been made to other employees or former employees.
Maurello also entered false reasons for the payments into the payroll system, the indictment said.
They allegedly included claims that the payments were for an employee's accrued paid time off when the employee in question either didn't have any paid time off or had already been paid for it. There were also false claims that the payments were for insurance premiums, withholding of taxes, or tuition reimbursement, the indictment said.
The Art Institute said it discovered unusual account activity during a review of its financial control procedures in 2019. The museum said it immediately launched an internal probe, and discovered the fraudulent payments.
When the assistant controller of the Art Institute asked Maurello about one of the payments in January 2020, Maurello lied and said the transaction was just a test of the payroll system, according to the indictment.
Maurello also edited and altered a report from the Art Institute's payroll system to hide information about the funds he had misappropriated, including falsely changing the employee names, dates, and dollar amounts for the payments, according to the indictment.
Maurello was fired for cause and the matter was referred to law enforcement, the Art Institute said.
"This individual stole in excess of $2 million from the organization over the course of approximately a decade. The cumulative loss was significant, but because of the length of time and manner in which it was taken, it did not impact decisions around staffing, payroll, scholarship funding, programming, or other financial aspects of the organization," the Art Institute said in a statement. "We have implemented additional controls and procedures to help detect and prevent any future malfeasance and are recovering funds through insurance."
Maurello, 56, of Beach Park, is charged with two counts of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud. He will be arraigned at a later date at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
On social media, accounts for Michael Johnson-Maurello still list him as the payroll manager at the Art Institute of Chicago.