ATLANTA — Brady Lum liked to play music, but he did not like to pay for his hobby.
Instead, he used the Southeast’s leading visual arts museum as a piggy bank, according to federal court documents.
Lum, 59, of Atlanta, pleaded guilty to stealing from the High Museum of Art during his nearly seven years as its chief operating officer, using creative accounting to disguise purchases of music lessons, luxury guitars and other musical equipment, and woodworking equipment.
The High receives money from the federal government, so the FBI got involved, leading to a charge of theft from a federally funded institution.
Lum pleaded guilty Monday in the Atlanta federal courtroom of Judge Michael L. Brown, accepting a deal that could put him behind bars for up to a decade and that will require restitution.
Lum, who was the High COO until December, was charged on April 14, according to his docket sheet filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
The charging document said Lum used various schemes to cover his tracks, including altered invoices and accounting adjustments.
For instance, in November 2024, he used the High’s online expense platform to alter a $9,147.87 invoice for a guitar and accessories to appear as a purchase of a speaker array, subwoofers and equipment cases, the document said.
The office of U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg prosecuted the case and said in a statement that Lum had engineered more than 700 reimbursements totaling more than $600,000.
“Over several years, Lum deceptively plundered the southeast’s premier museum of visual art,” Hertzberg said in the statement.
The FBI seized Lum’s ill-gotten goods, and now he has to repay the victims — with interest, according to the plea agreement he signed.
Lum remains free on bond pending his Nov. 2 sentencing.
The plea deal said Lum could be ordered to serve anywhere from zero to 10 years in prison, with prosecutors recommending a sentence at the low end. Lum also faces supervised release of zero to three years.