Three Charged in Cook County Property Tax Bribery Scheme

Chicago, IL – A Chicago-area businessman and two Cook County Assessor’s Office employees have been charged in a bribery scheme.

According to the indictment, Robert Mitziga, 65, owner of Fence Masters, Inc., allegedly conspired with Basilio Clausen, 51, of Crown Point, Indiana, a residential field inspector at the Cook County Assessor’s Office; Lumni Likovski, 47, of Burbank, a director of taxpayer services at the Cook County Assessor’s Office; and Lavdim Memisovski, a commercial group leader at the Cook County Assessor’s Office, to bribe the employees in return for reduced property assessments for properties owned by Fence Masters and Company A.

The indictment alleges that from approximately February to November 2017, Mitziga bribed Clausen, Likovski, and Memisovski with golf outings, food, and drinks in exchange for the employees circumventing the regular system of random assignment of appeals to route the appeals to Memisovski, who reduced the assessed values on the properties.

Mitziga has also been charged separately with bribing Clausen, Likovski, and Memisovski, while Likovski has been charged separately with accepting a bribe as a public official.

Memisovski was previously charged separately by information on July 6, 2022 for conspiring to accept bribes. He pled guilty to having engaged in a bribery scheme with the owner of a Chicago-area construction company from 2016 to 2019.

The charges carry a possible sentence range of 5 to 10 years in federal prison. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual and Special Agent-in-Charge Robert W. Wheeler, Jr. of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the indictment. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vikas Didwania and Richard Rothblatt.

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