Lemont businessman sentenced to 5 years in federal prison in conspiracy to lower property taxes

A Lemont businessman was sentenced Wednesday to five years in federal prison after admitting he bribed an employee of the Cook County assessor’s office to lower taxes on his family’s properties.Judge John F. Kness told Alex Nitchoff, 56, that the bribery scheme was “a cancer” that eats away at the public’s respect for government institutions.“With due regard to the great support for Mr. Nitchoff,” Kness said, noting the voluminous letters of support and the courtroom gallery packed with family and friends, “the fact remains that this offense is among the very worst to the overall functioning of society.”The judge added that Nitchoff had abused his wealth and position in the community to get an unfair advantage in the property tax system.“That is greed,” Kness said of the motivation.The judge also imposed a fine of $25,000. Nitchoff is expected to surrender Jan. 21.In asking the court for leniency, Nitchoff tearfully apologized to the “judge, government and taxpayers.”“I’m very sorry for what I did. I’m very ashamed,” he said in a statement to the court. “Your honor, I promise to never break the law again.”Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Nitchoff to more than seven years in prison, saying he’d played a “principal role in the scheme,” which they called “brazen and egregious” and said harmed hardworking taxpayers by raising their taxes to cover the difference his family would have paid.Though Nitchoff might have an otherwise-clean record, prosecutors said their investigation showed it wasn’t his “first foray into corruption.” They pointed to accusations that he took $100,000 from the city of Chicago to build porches for a housing assistance program that were never built.Nitchoff’s lawyers argued that prison wasn’t necessary, saying he was unlikely to commit other crimes.“Mr. Nitchoff has endured countless sleepless nights, consumed with worry and extreme mental anguish over the grief, pain, agony and anxiety he has caused his loving family,” his attorneys wrote in a memo to the judge.They said their client had otherwise led a life of “extraordinary selflessness” that revolved around providing for his family, his friends and employees.They blamed Nitchoff’s father, Boris Nitchoff, for devising the scheme, saying the father “overwhelmingly” benefited from the bribes to reduce the family’s property taxes.The elder Nitchoff “held a unique psychological power over his entire family, but especially over his two sons,” the attorneys wrote.. He died in 2020.Kness called that argument unconvincing and “on the edge of offensive.”“Your father is not responsible for your conduct,” the judge told him. “You are.”The sentence came weeks after Robert Mitziga, an Indiana businessman, was found not guilty by a federal jury in the same scheme, part of a sprawling federal corruption investigation. and , former employees of the assessor’s office, are awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to the conspiracy. A third former employee, Lumni Likovski, is expected to go on trial in February.A Nitchoff employee, John Bodendorfer, still faces charges.