Бывшему CEO больницы Лоретто смягчили приговор: обвинения в сговоре отменят при соблюдении условий

In the latest consequences of a grand jury scandal at the U.S. attorney’s office, the former CEO of Loretto Hospital entered into a pretrial diversion agreement Tuesday that will see conspiracy charges against him dismissed as long as he stays out of trouble for a year. George Miller was the most high-profile defendant so far to get a deal since allegations of grand jury misconduct surfaced in May in the “Broadview Six” case against immigration protesters, which was handled by the same prosecutor who led the sprawling Loretto investigation. Under the terms of the agreement, Miller, 75, who lives in central Florida, must abide by a number of rules for a 12-month period and pay about $60,000 in restitution. If he does so, prosecutors will dismiss the indictment against him in August 2027. “Mr. Miller, you got lucky here,” U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said at the end of the brief telephone hearing Tuesday. “I want to make sure you understand the terms of this agreement. There’s nine of them there … you should keep a copy with you to make sure you don’t violate any of those conditions.” Among the conditions outlined in the publicly filed agreement: no travel outside of central Florida without the court’s permission, maintain gainful employment and report any contact with law enforcement. As part of the agreement, Miller agreed to a set of facts about the allegations that was to be filed as a separate attachment. That document had not been made public, for reasons that were not explained in open court. Miller’s lawyer, Ryan Hedges, could not immediately be reached. An indictment filed in 2024 alleged Miller, who was CEO at Loretto from 2017 until he left amid turmoil in 2022, allegedly conspired to use his position to steer hospital contracts to medical supplies and service companies owned and operated by Sameer Suhail, a doctor and medical supplier who is also indicted in the same alleged scheme. Miller was accused, along with his former Chief Financial Officer Anosh Ahmed, of conspiring to accept checks and money transfers from Suhail in exchange for the award of contracts and other hospital business to Suhail’s companies. He allegedly accepted around $769,000 in bribes, prosecutors originally charged. Another defendant, Heather Bergdahl, a former Loretto executive and close friend of Ahmed’s, had been charged with helping to carry out the scheme. The indictment followed a federal investigation initiated after Loretto came under fire for improperly doling out COVID-19 vaccinations soon after the shots became available. In 2021, following reporting by Block Club Chicago and WBEZ, Loretto admitted it had improperly vaccinated workers at Trump Tower in downtown Chicago and had also improperly given shots to Cook County judges at a time when the vaccines were still scarce. Miller, who was CEO of Loretto during that period, was first suspended and later left the hospital amid the fallout in 2022. Ahmed was also charged in a related investigation with a COVID-19 testing fraud scheme that generated tens of millions of dollars in government reimbursements over a two-month period in 2021, much of which was for tests that were never performed. But both cases were weakened significantly by fallout from the ongoing “Broadview Six” scandal, which revealed alleged wrongdoing by prosecutor Sheri Mecklenburg in front of the grand jury, including improperly “vouching” for the strength of the government’s case. Bergdahl entered into a deferred prosecution deal in July that will likely leave her without a felony conviction. Prosecutors have also said that they were in “negotiations” with Suhail to resolve his charges short of trial. Both Ahmed and Suhail were living in Dubai by the time the charges came down. Suhail returned to the U.S. earlier this year and has pleaded not guilty. Ahmed, meanwhile, has been held in a jail in Belgrade, Serbia, since his arrest there on Nov. 30. His lawyers recently said he’s no longer contesting extradition to the U.S. and could be returned to Chicago to face the charges by the end of the month. So far, the massive investigation into alleged fraud by Loretto’s executives has netted only one guilty plea. Earlier this month, Mohamed Sirajudeen, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges alleging he helped Ahmed bill Medicare for tens of millions of dollars in COVID-19 tests in 2021, many of which were never actually performed. Ahmed remains charged in that case as well. But two others had charges against them dismissed in June, shortly after U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman had ordered an evidentiary hearing into alleged grand jury misconduct by the U.S. attorney’s office.