Pagano money - where'd it go???

Today's article on www.mchenrycountyblog.com alerted me to the Chicago Tribune article (on Wednesday!) that Barbara (Mrs. Phil) Pagano filed for bankruptcy in Federal Court in Rockford back in September. Isn't it amazing that that filing wasn't routinely picked up by media back in September? It's not like Pagano is a common name like Smith or Jones.

And amazing that the Northwest Herald doesn't report it, even as of right now?

Hello? Is there an investigative reporter in Illinois who wonders where all the money went that Phil Pagano sucked out of Metra by excess advance draws on vacation time and his retirement accounts? Is anyone tracing the flow of that money to see where Pagano spent it and how his family ends up filing bankruptcy after he committed suicide by train?

Every one of those credit card charges and debts, totalling $265,000, should be tracked down. But those are dollars he spent in addition to the million or so that he drew out of Metra. Where does somebody spend that kind of money and have nothing to show for it?

If Mrs. Pagano received $500,000 in life insurance proceeds and if it is subject to creditors' claims, Phil Pagano certainly fell down in the estate planning area. He could have taken important steps to save his family from financial straits by setting up a special kind of trust that would have protected the life insurance proceeds.