Negotiated settlement near in Simms civil lawsuit

The Kankakee River Metropolitan Agency will discuss a possible settlement in a federal civil lawsuit against former KRMA Executive Director Richard Simms at its Aug. 28 board meeting.

According to U.S. Federal District Court documents, attorneys for Simms, his daughter Anna Simms, the city of Kankakee and KRMA informed Judge Eric I. Long, where settlement negotiations stand as of July 31.

“Since the last status report in June, attorneys for the parties have finalized settlement language that must be approved by the corporate authorities of the city of Kankakee and KRMA,” according to the document. “[Kankakee] has approved the settlement agreement subject to execution by all other parties.”

According to the document, KRMA discussed the settlement agreement at a closed session on July 24, “but the meeting ran into time pressures, and the settlement agreement was tabled to the KRMA meeting on Aug. 28, 2025, when passage of the settlement agreement will again be considered.”

All parties requested an extension to Sept. 5 to work on a finalized settlement.

In November 2020, KRMA and the city of Kankakee sued Simms, his daughter and the corporations they run to recoup funds that the two fraudulently used to develop computer hardware they claimed as their own.

Federal authorities convicted Richard Simms in 2022.

A judge sentenced him to nine months in federal prison and two years of house arrest for stealing $2 million from the public coffers.

Richard Simms, whose records show he lives in Marietta, Ohio, also was ordered to repay the estimated $1,257,000 improperly paid from Kankakee’s Environmental Services Utilities and $768,000 from KRMA from the time frame of October 2014 to April 2018.

KRMA is the region’s wastewater treatment plant.