Elmhurst Recovers 60% Of Its Stolen Money

ELMHURST, IL — Over the last few years, Elmhurst has recovered nearly 60 percent of its money stolen from an investment fund. The city expects to get no more.

From 2010 to 2014, Orlando businessman Nik Patel took more than $50 million from the Illinois Metropolitan Investment Fund, or IMET, as part of a loan fraud scheme.

In 2018, Patel was convicted of stealing more than $179 million in all and sentenced to 25 years in prison. More than 100 Chicago-area municipal members of IMET were victims.

Patel stole $807,000 from Elmhurst, officials said. The city reported Monday it had received $479,000 of that money through sales of Patel's assets.

In September, IMET informed Elmhurst that the city had received all the money that was going to be recovered.

In a letter, Sofia Anastopoulos, IMET's executive director, said the organization had worked "diligently to help recover as much funds as possible to offset the fraud perpetrated" by Patel.

"IMET does not anticipate any further recoveries or distributions," Anastopoulos said in the letter.

The information was presented to the City Council's Finance Committee on Monday.

"That was a tough one when it first came up," Alderman Bob Dunn recalled. "It was pretty shocking."