Former Loretto Hospital CEO charged in $15 million fraud scheme

The former CEO of Loretto Hospital has been named in a new indictment by federal prosecutors for his alleged role in a $15 million embezzlement scheme.

George Miller, 73, faces a count of conspiracy to defraud in a superseding indictment filed Wednesday in federal court in Chicago, according to records.

He is the fourth person to be named in an alleged fraud scheme to charge the small West Side hospital for goods and services it had not received between 2018 and 2022.

Miller left Loretto as CEO and president in 2022 under a cloud of allegations of financial mismanagement that stemmed from earlier allegations that he abused his access to COVID-19 vaccinations when they were in limited supply.

The hospital’s former CFO Anosh Ahmed was charged in July with counts of wire fraud, embezzlement, aiding and abetting embezzlement and money laundering.

Former chief transformation officer, Heather Bergdahl, was charged earlier this spring and faces allegations she embezzled $500,000 with Ahmed.

Sameer Suhail, 47, the owner of a medical supply company, has also been charged.

Loretto is located in the city’s Austin neighborhood and primarily treats low-income and elderly patients who were some of the most at risk during the coronavirus pandemic.

The hospital was picked to distribute the first COVID-19 vaccines when they became available in late 2020, WBEZ has reported.

Block Club Chicago first reported allegations that the hospital distributed some vaccines to people connected to the hospital who did not qualify at the time, including employees at Trump Tower, where Ahmed had a condo.

The city responded by cutting off the hospital’s access to vaccinations for a time.

The criminal charges faced by the four stem from allegations that they created fraudulent payment requests through a computerized vendor system for goods and services that had not been delivered.

Miller along with Ahmed is accused of approving hospital contracts with vendors connected to Suhail in return for kickbacks that were deposited in bank accounts in their names, according to the indictment.

An attorney for Miller did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.