Former COT staffer arrested for embezzling over $100,000

Thu Nov 09, 2017 at 3:49 pm

By Lawrence A. Johnson

Brian Gore
Brian Gore

A former box office manager for Chicago Opera Theater was arrested Wednesday on charges of embezzling over $100,000 from the company, a COT official revealed Thursday afternoon.

Brian Gore, who worked for COT from late 2012 until May of 2016, is accused of stealing the money over that 3-1/2-year period, said executive director Douglas Clayton.

Gore is expected to be indicted “very soon,” Clayton added.

The missing funds were discovered soon after Gore’s departure when company personnel were training new box office staff.

“It’s very sad for someone in a nonprofit organization to take advantage in this way,” Clayton said. “But the company is in a good position right now,” he added, noting that the money did not come from audience members’s donations but from COT funds.

A photo (above) posted December 5, 2012 on COT’s Facebook page shows Gore at his work station. The caption reads, “Meet our new Audience Services Manager, Brian Gore! This is his first official week with COT and judging by his smile, he likes it here!”

COT opened its 45th season last Saturday with a production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul, which won high critical accolades. The Consul will be repeated this Friday and Sunday.

 

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