R. Marc Hamid, Defrauding Cubs and Municipal Taxing Agencies, Illinois 2023

CHICAGO — R. Marc Hamid, 48, of Lincolnwood, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defrauding the Chicago Cubs and municipal taxing agencies.

A federal judge in Chicago imposed the sentence on R. Marc Hamid after he was convicted last year on four counts of mail fraud and five counts of illegally structuring financial transactions.

The crime took place between 2008 through 2011, when Hamid caused his rooftop building, Skybox on Sheffield, to submit false annual royalty statements to the Cubs, under-reporting attendance figures by thousands of paid attendees, and under-reporting gross revenues by $1.4 million.

At his direction, sales from Skybox on Sheffield were diverted to two ticket companies, thus concealing from the Cubs, Cook County and the city of Chicago Skybox on Sheffield’s true revenue.

Hamid’s accountant, Joseph Gurdak, further reduced the attendance and revenue figures reported to the Cubs. Gurdak pleaded guilty last year to one count of mail fraud and one count of willfully filing a false income tax return.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean Driscoll and Katherine Welsh.

Hamid was a licensed Illinois attorney and a former owner and operator of Right Field Rooftops LLC, which did business as Skybox on Sheffield, a rooftop entertainment venue located across the street from Wrigley Field’s right field wall. He also owned and operated JustGreatTickets.com Inc. and Just Great Seats LLC, companies that purchased and re-sold tickets to entertainment and sporting events.

The sentence was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; E.C. Woodson, Postal Inspector-in-Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Chicago; and James D. Robnett, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation in Chicago.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/former-owner-rooftop-building-across-wrigley-field-sentenced-18-months-defrauding-0