Berwyn woman charged with stealing $250,000 from state treasurer’s unclaimed property

A Berwyn woman faces 15 felony charges in connection with nearly $250,000 stolen from Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs’ office.

Maria Michaud, 37, is accused of using four other people’s names to make claims for $247,760.29 from the treasurer’s office’s unclaimed property program in 2019 and 2020. The program returns lost money and property to qualifying residents.

“Anyone who fraudulently claims property through the program is not only defrauding the state of Illinois. They are stealing from real people who have a right to that property and who may need the financial relief that money or property would bring,” Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who filed the charges in Lake County, said.

Michaud also is charged with using one victim’s name to take out a $20,275 loan from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which was intended to help businesses during the pandemic.

State and federal officials began investigating when the state treasurer’s unclaimed property division identified the four claims as potentially fraudulent, the attorney general’s office said.

“We take very seriously our responsibility to safeguard unclaimed property, and these criminal charges are evidence that our increased theft-prevention efforts are working,” Frerichs said in a statement.

Michaud allegedly opened several bank accounts under the victims’ names and changed some of their addresses with the U.S. Postal Service.

She is charged with:

• Two counts of money laundering
• Three counts of aggravated identity theft
• Two counts of identity theft
• Two counts of theft of government property
• One count of continuing a financial crimes enterprise
• Four counts of forgery
• One count of theft

Michaud, who was released from custody after her first court appearance in January, pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Thursday. Her next court date is June 4.