Dive Summary:
- Robert Albanese, a former associate vice president for finance and facilities at Northern Illinois University, pleaded guilty Monday to violating the State Property Control Act, a misdemeanor, for his involvement in an alleged scrap-selling scheme.
- Eight more NIU officials (all of whom were in roles supervised by Albanese) face charges in the "coffee fund" scandal, in which they allegedly sold scrap material from the school and deposited the money (at least $13,000) in a private bank account for holiday parties, retirement celebrations and other social uses.
- Albanese--who was sentenced to 18 months of court supervision and fined--resigned in July while being investigated for unrelated "serious and substantial" misconduct allegations and was paid $45,000 in severance.
From the article:
... "I have taken my responsibility for my end of it. I could have done a better job managing (people) or keeping track of state property," said Albanese, of Elburn, the university's former associate vice president for finance and facilities. "I am personally very glad that it is behind me." ...