Chicago Accountant Robert Rome Gets 63 Months for Stealing $4.3 Million From Client Family's Trusts

Case from 2013 (U.S. Attorney's Office release: Aug. 27, 2013). Published on Scammers.com Oct. 16, 2026; case status is current as of that date.

Robert Rome was managing partner of the former Rome Associates LLP, an accounting firm in downtown Chicago. On Aug. 27, 2013, he was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for embezzling more than $4.3 million from trust accounts he managed for a client family, and for cheating the IRS out of more than $1.7 million in taxes on the stolen money. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced the sentence [1].

How the theft worked

According to prosecutors [1]:

1. A trusted adviser: One of Rome's largest clients was a family that owned a group of plumbing wholesale supply companies. He did accounting and tax work for the family members and their businesses.
2. Total control: Rome alone could sign checks, move money and sign tax returns for the trusts he managed.
3. Checks to himself: From 2003 to 2007, he wrote checks from the trusts to himself or his firm. He also took money from a family investment partnership account and from the estate of a deceased family member.
4. Lavish spending: The money paid for cars, a boat, vacation homes in Florida, and jewelry for himself and his family.
5. Tax fraud: Rome filed false federal income tax returns for 2004 through 2006 and filed no return for 2007.

The sentence

Robert Rome, 66, Chicago

• Plea: guilty to wire fraud and tax fraud in September 2012.
• Sentence: 63 months in prison, imposed by U.S. District Judge James Zagel. The judge said Rome's betrayal of the family's trust made the crime worse than if he had broken into their homes and stolen the money.
• Other terms: three years of supervision after release, a bar on working as an accountant or financial adviser, and $1,786,053 in restitution to the IRS. He was ordered to report to prison Oct. 30, 2013.
• No restitution to the family: the victims eventually recovered the stolen funds from third parties [1].

The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated.

Red flags with a trusted financial professional

• One person holding sole signing authority over trusts, estates or family accounts, with no independent review.
• Checks written to the adviser or the adviser's firm that aren't clearly tied to billed fees.
• Statements that come only from the adviser instead of straight from the bank or custodian.

How to protect your family's money

1. Require dual signatures or independent trustee oversight on large trust and estate accounts.
2. Get statements directly from the bank or custodian and have a second professional review them each year.
3. Report suspected theft to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov, and report a CPA to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

Case status (as of Oct. 16, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 16, 2026	Source
Robert Rome, Chicago	N.D. Ill. (Judge Zagel)	Pleaded guilty Sept. 2012 to wire fraud and tax fraud; sentenced Aug. 27, 2013, to 63 months; $1,786,053 IRS restitution; barred from accounting work	[1]

The sentence was imposed in 2013; we have not found a source on Rome's current status.

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Chicago Accountant Sentenced To 63 Months In Federal Prison For Stealing $4.3 Million From Clients And Cheating IRS," Aug. 27, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/chicago-accountant-sentenced-63-months-federal-prison-stealing-43-million-clients-and

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