The former controller of the East Bank Club, Chicago, pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge for embezzling more than $4 million from the club, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois.
Peter Craig Savely, pleaded guilty on Oct. 27 to one count of bank fraud. The conviction is punishable by a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $1 million. Restitution is mandatory. Sentencing is set for Feb. 2, 2023.
Savely admitted in a plea agreement that from 2013 to 2020 he issued purported payroll checks on the club’s bank account to four employees. Savely signed the checks as the club’s controller. Because the checks also required the signature of the club’s chief financial officer, he forged the CFO’s signature without the CFO’s knowledge, the plea agreement states. Savely then forged the payees’ signatures to fraudulently endorse the checks and deposited them into bank accounts that he controlled, the plea agreement states.
As a result of the fraud scheme, Savely converted more than $4.1 million for his own personal use.
Savely admitted that he attempted to conceal the embezzlement by regularly making false entries in the club’s financial ledgers and causing the losses associated with the checks to be spread across multiple departments, thereby making the losses harder to detect.
Club Industry has reached out to East Bank Club for comment.