Metra Chief Was Supporting 3 Households

UPDATED: 12/07/10 7:43 a.m.

CHICAGO (WBBM) - Slowly, the mystery surrounding what a former top executive of Metra did with all his money is starting to become public.

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Metra chief Phil Pagano, 60, killed himself by stepping in front of a Metra train in May after questions were being raised about hundreds of thousands of extra dollars he approved for himself.

Now, his wife's lawyer has told a federal bankruptcy court that Pagano apparently was supporting three households, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Those were the one in which his wife lived in Crystal Lake and two others, one in Palatine and the other in downtown Chicago. It's unclear who was part of those other two households.

James Mullally said he didn't want to get involved in "innuendo and hearsay." Nor would he say if Barbara Pagano knew who belonged to the "other households", the Tribune reported.

The disclosure begins to answer questions about what Pagano was doing with his $270,000 salary and extra compensation in recent years.

The Tribune reported last week that Barbara Pagano, 54, is fighting to keep the proceeds from her husband's $500,000 life insurance policy.

According to court documents, the Paganos bought their Crystal Lake home in 1989 for $177,000 but, through repeated refinancing, Barbara Pagano now owes $765,000 and the home is only valued now at less than $350,000.

In:
• Bernie Tafoya
• Phil Pagano
• Metra
• Suicide