A former executive at Loretto Hospital in Chicago faces federal charges alleging she helped embezzle nearly $500,000 from the facility amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Chicago Tribune reported May 13.
Heather Bergdahl, MD, 37, who now lives in the Houston area, was charged with embezzlement from a federally funded program and was arrested on May 9, according to the newspaper.
An attorney for Dr. Bergdahl is not listed in court documents accessed by Becker's.
The charges stem from an FBI investigation launched in 2021 regarding COVID-19 vaccines administered by Loretto at the church connected to Loretto's then-President and CEO George Miller Jr.
In March 2021, Mr. Miller was suspended for two weeks without pay amid reports of improper COVID-19 vaccinations from the safety-net hospital. Mr. Miller, who eventually departed the hospital in April 2022 amid the federal investigation, acknowledged that he authorized the hospital on March 10, 2021, to vaccinate restaurant, housekeeping and other hotel personnel at Trump Tower, where Anosh Ahmed, MD, who was the hospital's CFO and COO at the time and resigned in 2021, owned a condo. Block Club Chicago and WBEZ also previously reported that judges in Cook County were offered doses by the hospital before they were eligible.
According to the criminal complaint filed May 10 and accessed by Becker's, Dr. Bergdahl was hired on or about Feb. 23, 2022, as chief transformation officer at Loretto, with responsibility over outreach for screening and COVID-19 testing and vaccines.
She also supervised accounts payable at Loretto, according to the complaint.
"Through her position, [Dr.] Bergdahl was able to enter vendors into [Loretto's] Meditech system (which kept track of vendor information, including payments to vendors), request and approve payments to vendors, and print checks," the complaint said.
The complaint said her employment with Loretto stopped in March 2022, but she continued duties on behalf of Loretto as a contractor, until on or about April 12, 2022, when the hospital terminated its relationship with her.
A former Loretto employee told the FBI that Dr. Bergdahl performed tasks at Dr. Ahmed's direction during their mutual employment at the hospital, and they were in regular contact multiple times daily. Dr. Ahmed is referred to as "Individual A" in the complaint, according to the Tribune.
The complaint alleges that between about June and December 2021, after Dr. Ahmed's employment with Loretto had ended, and while Dr. Bergdahl still worked at the hospital, Dr. Bergdahl "issued approximately $486,540 in checks drawn on a [Loretto] bank account and made payable to entities for which Individual A was the purported CEO."
Dr. Ahmed "deposited these checks into bank accounts that he had opened in the names of these purported entities and then quickly transferred the money to other bank accounts that he controlled. According to representatives of [Loretto], none of the purported entities did business with, or provided goods or services to, [the hospital]."
Hospital records show that on June 11, 2021 — the same day that Dr. Ahmed opened bank accounts in the names of the "purported entities" — Dr. Bergdahl caused the hospital to begin issuing checks made payable to those entities, which did not do business with the hospital.
Dr. Bergdahl's LinkedIn profile shows her as CFO of Anosh for the last two years — an investment firm that was founded by Dr. Ahmed.
Neither Dr. Ahmed nor Mr. Miller has been criminally charged, and an investigation continues, the Tribune reported.
Loretto shared the following statement with Becker's: "Unfortunately, the hospital was targeted and preyed upon, and it fell victim to a crime. For legal reasons, we are currently unable to discuss details, but we continue to offer our full cooperation and support the investigation.
"Since Spring 2022, Loretto Hospital has been under the leadership of a new CEO and executive team. Our mission to provide accessible, quality healthcare for Austin and our surrounding neighborhoods remains our top priority. The Loretto Hospital board of trustees, our foundation board, and our entire leadership team are focused on restoring the community's confidence in Loretto through transformation and transparency. We look forward to providing critical healthcare services to the community for another 100 years."
Read the full Tribune report here.