(The Center Square) – Federal prosecutors have charged a former Cook County Land Bank Authority employee with fraud in a scheme to buy property at a discount and then resell it through straw buyers only to collect the proceeds of the sales.
Prosecutors charged Mustafaa Saleh, 36, of Chicago, with a single count of wire fraud, according to court documents filed Monday. They allege the former employee of the Cook County Land Bank Authority used straw buyers from 2016 to 2021 to fraudulently buy and resell properties from the government agency on his behalf, according the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.
Saleh pocketed more than $860,000 in profits from the deals. Saleh also created a company that was paid $1 million to provide maintenance to the properties. Because of his ties to the land bank, he wasn’t allowed to have any financial interest with companies contracting with the agency.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Saleh was an asset manager the Cook County Land Bank Authority, a government agency that promotes the redevelopment and reuse of vacant, foreclosed, abandoned, and tax delinquent real estate by buying and transferring the property to private ownership.
The agency sold the real estate at below-market rates and prohibited the buyers from selling or renting a property until it was satisfied that the buyer had improved it to the agency’s standards. Authority employees are prohibited from buying property from the agency unless it would be used for the employee’s primary residence.
The Cook County Land Bank Authority “cooperated with the U.S. Attorney’s investigation,” an agency spokesperson said.
“The agency, board members, executive directors and other staff were victims of this crime and never the subject or target of this investigation,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “This individual engaged in a sophisticated crime.”
Prosecutors allege Saleh used straw buyers to buy six properties from the Cook County Land Bank Authority. Four the properties were in Chicago, another was in Midlothian and another was in Oak Lawn.
After the six real estate deals, Saleh collected all of $847,771 in profits from five of the transactions. Prosecutors further allege that he privately rented out the sixth property to people without the knowledge of the Cook County Land Bank Authority.
An arraignment in U.S. District Court in Chicago has not yet been scheduled.
Saleh’s attorney Damon Cheronis and the Cook County Land Bank Authority did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
