Former Illinois hospital COO admits to illegally pocketing over $620K in hospital funds

CHICAGO - A former Chief Operating Officer of an Illinois hospital admitted in federal court Monday to illegally pocketing over $620,000 in hospital funds.

Robert Spadoni, 59, of Darien, pleaded guilty to a mail fraud charge. 

Spadoni, an attorney who worked as a vice president and COO of an Illinois hospital, admitted in a plea agreement that from 2013 to 2021 he orchestrated a scheme in which he approved the hospital's payment of invoices to a vendor company that purportedly provided administrative support and compliance services.

However, the vendor company, Medical Education Solutions, Inc., had been established by Spadoni to execute the scheme.

Additionally, Spadoni opened a bank account for the company in a relative's name and steered the hospital's payments to it.

Spadoni then concealed the fraud scheme by paying $1,500 a month in cash to another hospital employee to actually provide the services.

As a result of the fraud scheme, Spadoni obtained approximately $622,500 in payments from the hospital.

In the plea agreement, Spadoni also admitted that he used the money for his benefit, including restaurant meals and hotel stays — as well as transferring $225,805 into his 401K account.

The conviction is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.

His sentencing date is scheduled for April 30.