Lemont construction company owner pleads guilty in bribery scheme
CHICAGO - The owner of a suburban Chicago construction company pleaded guilty this week to federal bribery charges for conspiring to bribe an employee of the Cook County Assessor’s Office in return for reduced property taxes.
Alex Nitchoff, 56, of Lemont, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of conspiring to corruptly give something of value to influence and reward a public official and one count of using an interstate facility to facilitate bribery.
According to the plea agreement, Nitchoff admitted that from 2016 to 2019 he conspired with others to corruptly provide home improvement services and materials to Cook County Assessor's Office employee, Lavdim Memisovski, who assessed property values and reviewed property tax appeals for Cook County commercial properties.
Nitchoff and others then provided free home improvement services and materials for Memisovski's personal residence, including a concrete pad, decking materials, dumpster usage, fascias and soffits, a fence, a gas line, heads for a sprinkler system, tile and windows.
In return, the plea agreement states that Memisovski took official action to reduce the property taxes owed on Nitchoff's properties by at least $550,0000.
One of Nitchoff's employees, 56-year-old John Bodendorer, of Chicago, pleaded not guilty to participating in the bribery scheme. He is currently awaiting trial.
Memisovski, 45, of Burbank, pleaded guilty last year to a conspiracy charge. He is currently awaiting sentencing.
Nitchoff's sentencing date has been set for May 8.
Prosecutors say Nitchoff, Bodendorfer and Memisovski were among seven people charged in connection with the federal investigation.
Two other Cook County Assessor’s Office employees, Basilio Clausen, 51, of Crown Point, Ind., and Lumni Likovski, 47, of Burbank, have pleaded not guilty to bribery charges.
They are currently awaiting trial in connection with a scheme in which they allegedly accepted bribes from the owner of a fence installation company. In return, they allegedly reduced property assessments.
The fence company owner, Robert Mitziga, 65, of Dyer, Ind., pleaded not guilty to bribery charges. He is also awaiting trial.
The seventh defendant is Joseph E. Garcia, a former City of Chicago building inspector.
He was sentenced to probation for falsely claiming to have inspected home repair projects for low-income Chicago homeowners, which allowed the city to pay a contractor for work that, at the time, had not been done.