Former Loretto Hospital executive Anosh Ahmed and his associate, medical supply company owner Sameer Suhail, have been indicted on charges of embezzling more than $15 million from the safety net hospital. As detailed by the Chicago Sun-Times, Ahmed, who previously served as the chief financial officer, is facing eight counts of wire fraud, four counts of embezzlement, and three counts of money laundering.
Moreover, amidst the allegations that Ahmed steered scarce COVID-19 vaccines to luxury locales such as Trump Tower where he owned a condo, the scandal takes on another layer of misconduct. According to the Austin Weekly News, Federal prosecutors announced the indictment, which also charges Suhail with six counts of wire fraud, six counts of aiding and abetting embezzlement, and two counts of money laundering. The indictment accuses the pair along with former Chief Transformation Officer, Heather Bergdahl, of funneling vendor payments for nonexistent goods and services to companies they controlled.
Heather Bergdahl, previously charged in May and attempted to flee to Dubai was charged with 14 counts of wire fraud and 21 counts of embezzlement as stated by the Austin Weekly News. The investigations into the embezzlement scheme revealed that after resigning, Ahmed still managed to control the financial strings, directing substantial amounts of money to companies where he held a CEO position.
Contained within the allegations, Bergdahl is said to have continued at Loretto Hospital without submitting bills or invoices for transactions, which is against the hospital's practices. The Chicago Sun-Times reports, "The three allegedly prepared and submitted requests for vendor payments that falsely claimed the hospital owed money for goods and services it had not received." This activity directed funds to entities under their control through the hospital's payment system.
