Businessman Joseph Nicolazzi offered to let his jailed Moroccan friend Jawad Fakroune stay at his south suburban home if a federal judge would let Fakroune out on bail.
But the judge denied Fakroune’s bail request earlier this year and he remained in a federal lockup where he’s awaiting trial on charges of defrauding investors of millions of dollars and threatening to kill a restaurant owner in an extortion scheme.
Now, Nicolazzi is facing federal charges, too, after he was indicted Tuesday on federal charges of real estate fraud.
Nicolazzi, owner of TTS Granite, is accused of submitting false information to obtain nearly $350,000 in loans for his properties in South Chicago Heights and Homewood. Nicolazzi falsely represented that the loans were for renovating the properties when they were actually used to pay off his granite company’s debts, an indictment said.
Nicolazzi and Fakroune have been friends for three years and Fakroune dated Nicolazzi’s daughter, Fakroune’s lawyer said at a Feb. 5 hearing.
“They always finish their conversations with, you know, ‘I love you,’ ” said the lawyer, Damon Cheronis, according to a transcript.
Nicolazzi was willing to put up property worth $1 million as collateral for Fakroune’s bond, according to Cheronis. Fakroune also was willing to submit to 24-hour private security.
But prosecutors objected to the arrangement, saying Fakroune might flee to his home country of Morocco — and that Nicolazzi wasn’t a suitable bond co-signer. “The government can’t get into explicit detail on this, but I’ll say there is an active grand jury investigation,” Assistant U.S. Richard Rothblatt told Judge Manish Shah during a March 19 hearing.
Nicolazzi was at a remote Michigan City, Indiana home where FBI agents arrested Fakroune in January for allegedly using threats and violence to shake down the owner of a Lincoln Park restaurant for $1.5 million he said he was owed, according to a court transcript.
Nicolazzi’s lawyer, Jason Goldman, said his client “has been an honest businessman for four decades.
“We look forward to swiftly and favorably resolving this matter,” Goldman said.
A Chicago police officer is also under scrutiny for his relationship with Fakroune. The officer is suspected of providing Fakroune with guns found during an FBI raid of Fakroune’s apartment in New York. The Chicago Police Department is investigating the officer’s report that his guns were stolen.
On Tuesday, a separate federal indictment was returned against Fakroune accusing him of fraud schemes that included bilking an investor out of $2.45 million for a marijuana grow operation and shipping container company and scamming another investor out of $150,000 for a coffee house or Mexican restaurant.
Prosecutors haven’t identified the police officer or the alleged victims of Fakroune. Sources say Fakroune, 45, became close to rich and famous people who frequent Rush Street bars and restaurants, including a former athlete and a rock star.