A Chicago-area construction company honcho has admitted to a dirty deal, pleading guilty to bribing a Cook County official for hefty property tax reductions on his stash of properties.
Alex Nitchoff, 56, got choked up in court as he copped to the shady scheme that saved him a cool half-a-mil in property taxes, the Chicago Tribune reported. The owner of Oakk Construction, based in Summit is on the hook for bribing Lavdim Memisovski, a Cook County assessor's office worker, who copped to his part of the conspiracy last year and is singing to the feds.
Nitchoff dished out home improvements, jewelry, and sports event tickets to get Memisovski to play ball, routing property assessment appeals straight to him and cutting Nitchoff's tax bills by about $550,000, according to his plea agreement. Turning the tables on himself, Nitchoff could land a maximum of 10 years behind bars, though his lawyers are pushing for a more lenient six-year bid.
In a courtroom drama, Nitchoff reportedly told U.S. District Judge John Kness that his conscience jolted him awake at 2 a.m. on the day of his hearing, the Chicago Sun-Times notes. Despite losing sleep over his impending fate, Nitchoff said he was "well-rested enough" to proceed with his mea culpa.
Adding a twist to the plot, Nitchoff's late dad, Boris, has been tangled up in another case involving former Alderman Carrie Austin, allegedly sweetening the politico with home perks to greenlight a development project. Austin has since been indicted but pleaded not guilty to all charges. On the other hand, Alex Nitchoff is steering clear of accusations in Austin's case, with his plea deal silent on any mandate for him to cough up more dirt.
The hammer comes down on May 8 when Nitchoff is set to learn his fate, as Judge Kness weighs the sentencing playbook. Meanwhile, Chicago's underbelly of backroom dealing gets yet another airing out in federal court, with the citizenry left to spectate yet another sordid tale of corruption.
