A Chicago-area man, Jawad Fakroune, 45, is facing serious federal charges for allegedly defrauding people out of millions and evading income tax, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois said Tuesday. Fakroune, known by several aliases including "Angelino Escobar" and "Angelo Baldini," has been charged with multiple counts of wire fraud and tax evasion, and the court has yet to schedule an arraignment.
According to the indictment, the accused managed to pull roughly $2.6 million from various individuals. In one instance in 2022, he allegedly convinced someone to part with $2.45 million, money he claimed would go towards a shipping container business and a cannabis operation. Instead, Fakroune is accused of funneling this cash into a slew of personal expenses, from buying a house in Lemont, Ill., to enjoying ritzy shopping sprees in New York City, where he also financed his living arrangements.
His purported schemes stretched into 2025. One such scheme involved convincing a victim to invest $150,000 in a coffee shop or Mexican restaurant, and in turn, deceiving them into signing a lease for a residence under the false promise of repayment, which the individual never received. The charges also detail Fakroune's alleged evasion of income taxes, highlighting that he willfully failed to file taxes from 2020 through 2023.
In a statement announcing the indictment, U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros stated the nature of the charges against Fakroune. The government's case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean Hennessy and Richard M. Rothblatt, with IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI also playing key roles in the investigation. The accused, as per the norms of the judicial system, remains innocent until proven guilty, and it's the government's responsibility to establish his guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt," the statement read.
Developments in this case are awaited as the legal process unfolds, including the scheduling of Fakroune's arraignment. The details of the indictment serve as a crucial reminder for individuals to exercise thorough diligence when engaging in business opportunities presented to them, especially those promising unusually high returns.
