Area schools districts have received a partial, albeit small, reimbursement of funds tied to a bad investment that defrauded approximately 300 Illinois governmental agencies, among others outside the state.
The investment in the fraudulent First Farmers loans through Nikesh Patel, who was convicted of fraud in March and sentenced to 25 years in prison, were made through the Illinois Metropolitan Investment Trust on behalf of the Proviso Township School Treasurer’s Office and Forest Park School District 91.
Those two entities have received a partial reimbursement as lawyers and the federal government collect funds through assets seized from Patel.
D91, which lost $199,412 in the investment scam, recently received two disbursements — one for $10,400 and another for $8,320 — according to an email from Assistant Superintendent of Operations Edward Brophy.
The Proviso Township School Treasurer’s Office, which invested about $2 million in First Farmers through IMET for the 13 school districts the office represents, received a disbursement of $99,718.
That disbursement was divided between the 13 districts, 19.78 percent of which or $19,724, going to Proviso High Schools District 209.
The school board notes in a memo that, “There was no fault by the Proviso Township Treasurer’s Office” in the fraudulent investment.
CONTACT: tim@oakpark.com
