From Crain's Real Estate Daily
Chicago Developer Indicted for Federal Tax Evasion
Chicago hotel developer Robert Falor was arrested by federal authorities September 1 on charges that he failed to pay $1.75 million in income taxes. The Chicago developer, whose local projects included the Hotel 71, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment September 1, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago. Federal authorities have been investigating Falor for at least two years, after several of his projects failed, prompting lawsuits alleging that he mismanaged projects and defrauded lenders and investors. Falor, 43, failed to report taxable income tied to his redevelopment of the Hotel Blake and other projects, according to a grand jury indictment returned August 30 and unsealed September 1. The indictment comes about six months after Falor pleaded no contest to charges that he stole $400,000 from an Ohio investor in the Hotel Blake project. The developer also faces a two-year-old civil fraud lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that he stole at least $4.6 million from investors, including some in the Hotel Blake, a 162-room hotel. Click here for the full story.