Forensic review finds no obvious fraud but flags large transfers and accounting gaps in Villa Park finances

Baker Tilly told the Villa Park Village Board on March 9 that its interim forensic accounting review found no clear evidence of fraud but left several open questions about how some funds were recorded and reconciled.

"Based on our midpoint so far with our interim results, there weren't any red flags in the accounting data and financial transactions," Michael Articlio, senior manager and project lead for Baker Tilly, told trustees during a remote briefing. He said the firm reviewed five years of vendor payments, employee credit card expenses, payroll records and bank transactions and used 2025 check images as a cross‑reference sample.

Trustees pressed whether the check‑image sample was sufficient. "We looked at every payment that your village made for five years," Articlio said, but added that only the 2025 check images were used for image cross‑reference because earlier images were not yet available; he said Baker Tilly can review earlier check images if the village provides them.

Why it matters: trustees said their principal concerns center on earlier years when pension liabilities and other long‑running errors first emerged. "I'm concerned about the years prior to 2025 because…