Former High Museum COO gets 1-year sentence in embezzlement case
Brady Lum (Credit: High Museum)
ATLANTA - The former chief operating officer of the High Museum of Art will spend a year behind bars after siphoning more than $600,000 to purchase luxury guitars, private music lessons and woodworking tools, federal officials announced Monday.
What we know:
U.S. District Judge Michael L. Brown sentenced Brady Lum, 60, of Atlanta, to one year in federal prison followed by one year of supervised release, federal prosecutors said.
Lum served as COO from Jan. 2, 2019, until his resignation on Dec. 9, 2025. Before that, he held executive roles at the Coca-Cola Company and Special Olympics International.
Prosecutors said Lum’s scheme began in Sept. 2019, less than nine months into the job, and lasted until museum leadership discovered the fraud in Nov. 2025.
Lum concealed personal purchases through altered invoices, corporate credit cards and accounting adjustments that spread expenses across internal cost centers.
Lum paid $607,688.18 in restitution to the museum as part of his plea agreement.
He also voluntarily repaid approximately $500,000 to cover legal fees and internal investigation costs.
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What they're saying:
"Lum brazenly pilfered hundreds of thousands of dollars from a beloved civic institution to pay for his high-end guitars and other personal items. His appalling breach of trust damaged not only the High Museum but also the larger art community," U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said. "Lum repaid the High Museum by covering its losses and expenses, and now he will pay his debt to society from prison."
"We expect leaders of one of our communities’ historic institutions to serve as stewards, not loot it," said Marlo Graham, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta. "Brady Lum manipulated internal processes to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars. The FBI is committed to uncovering and stopping this kind of greed and fraud."
What we don't know:
Federal officials have not stated when or where Lum must report to begin serving his federal prison term.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas N. Joy, who prosecuted the case, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Atlanta field office, which investigated the fraud.