FBI Releases File On Former Metra Boss Phil Pagano

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 3, 2014 2:00PM

This has not been a good week for Metra. The Better Government Association obtained files the FBI kept on the rail agency’s former CEO, Phil Pagano. Pagano killed himself in 2010 by stepping in front of a Metra train just as the agency’s board of directors was set to fire him for receiving extra, unapproved compensation including $475,000 in vacation pay.

The files, which the BGA obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, shed new light on the circumstances that led Pagano to embezzling funds from Metra in the months leading up to his suicide, particularly the depths of his financial insolvency and the infidelity that contributed to it. Pagano’s widow Barbara (who was awarded his $80,000 annual pension as a survivor’s benefit), revealed Pagano was supporting two other homes besides his own; the FBI documents reveal the extent of Pagano’s tomcatting ways.

Pagano had extramarital affairs with several women, used dating website eHarmony.com to meet at least one, took them on trips and paid for everything, and may have been blackmailed by one of his affairs (although there is no proof of that). This left him in serious debt; Crain’s Chicago Business’ Greg Hinz noted Pagano owed $836,000 on his deferred-life compensation and life insurance funds.

Pagano may also have been concerned about paying for hospice care for his ailing mother.

The FBI report indicates there was no evidence Pagano embezzled any more money than the $475,000 he was accused of stealing, he acted alone and that he admitted he needed the money for reasons not related to vices such as drugs or gambling. The release of the files coincided with a report by the public transit task force commissioned by Gov. Pat Quinn calling for tighter ethics guidelines for the Chicago area’s three public transit agencies and served as a reminder of the ingrained culture of corruption and patronage that has haunted Metra for years.