Joseph Satava began working for Medical Mutual in 1971, and had worked his way up to Credit and Collections Manager. Starting in 1997, he allegedly created hundreds of checks using names of people and companies covered by the Cleveland-based insurer.
Justice Department spokesman Mike Tobin said Satava's scheme continued until last year.
"He would order Medical Mutual to pay a check to an employee if the company had just paid them," Tobin said. "But then, instead of giving that check to the company, he would forge it and deposit it as a third-party check in his own account. And he made sure the checks were drawn from a large account of hundreds of millions of dollars, so that a check for $3,000 or $4,000 or $5,000 would largely go undetected."
Sixty-nine-year-old Satava was charged in what's called a bill of information, which usually means the defendant has agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors.
