Indicted ex-Loretto Hospital executive no longer fighting extradition to the U.S., attorney says

The former chief financial officer of Loretto Hospital who left the United States before federal grand jurors handed up two fraud indictments against him will no longer contest extradition from Serbia, where he has been held in custody since November, his lawyer told a judge Wednesday.

That means Anosh Ahmed might soon return to Chicago to face criminal charges. But the news also comes as federal prosecutors here have grappled with a scandal that’s rippled through the city’s courthouse and led to the dismissal of charges against two of Ahmed’s co-defendants.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman denied Ahmed’s bid for similar relief only two weeks ago — but she said she’d be willing to reconsider if Ahmed “submits to the court’s jurisdiction.”

Ahmed now appears to be taking her up on her offer, though his attorneys have yet to renew their request.

Prosecutors told the judge they’d only learned the news Wednesday morning.

Ahmed is charged in two indictments with defrauding millions of dollars out of Loretto hospital and the federal government. Both cases were led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg, the prosecutor at the center of the so-called “Broadview Six” scandal.

The “Broadview Six” conspiracy case, brought against six Operation Midway Blitz protesters, collapsed in late May over revelations of apparent misconduct by Mecklenburg before grand jurors.

Similar allegations soon surfaced about Mecklenburg’s conduct in the prosecution of Ahmed and others. Coleman in June threatened to hold a hearing over the allegations, but the feds avoided it by permanently dropping charges against two other defendants.

Still, Coleman warned prosecutors then to “make sure that your boss understands,” a reference to embattled Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros.

“That evidentiary hearing thing — it’s still a possibility. I’m not saying that’s over with, at least in this room,” Coleman told them.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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