Chicago Fraudster Behind Bars Again After Pleading Guilty to Scamming Investors Out of Millions

A man who once threatened to castrate and murder a Chicago restaurant owner has now admitted to running a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme. Jawad Fakroune, 46, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Wednesday to one count of wire fraud and one count of tax evasion. Court records show he could face close to 19 years behind bars for these crimes. He is already serving a six-and-a-half-year sentence for attacking his ex-business partner, Adolfo Garcia, over unpaid restaurant debts.

Fakroune's plea deal revealed that he skipped paying taxes on around 8.4 million dollars of income between 2020 and 2024. This cost the IRS and the state Department of Revenue roughly 3.3 million dollars in lost taxes. U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin scheduled his sentencing for December 1.

Originally from Morocco, Fakroun relocated to Chicago after a fraud conviction in New York. Prosecutors say he frequently pretended to be the son of a Colombian drug kingpin and bragged about ties to the Chicago mob. He was a regular at Rush Street clubs, mingling with the city's wealthy crowd while pitching fake investment opportunities to women he dated, often guaranteeing huge profits.

Among those Fakroune tricked was Lisa Duarte, a lawyer who once worked for Gov. J.B. Pritzker as his first assistant deputy governor for budget and economy. According to the plea, Fakroune lied to Duarte about putting 250,000 dollars into gold on her behalf. She ended up reimbursing him at least 168,000 dollars in cash for an investment that never happened. She also covered his 9,500-dollar monthly rent for a Chicago condo and made mortgage payments on his 1.8-million-dollar mansion in suburban Lemont. Duarte could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

Another victim, referred to in court papers as Individual E, is a professional basketball player. The plea states that Fakroune met the player in 2022 and convinced him to pour 2.45 million dollars into a fake California venture involving shipping containers and a marijuana growing operation. Fakroune promised monthly returns and the ability to pull the money out whenever he wanted. Instead of investing the cash, Fakroune blew it on his luxury lifestyle, buying a brand-new Cadillac Escalade, high-end watches, designer shopping, fancy restaurant meals, and the Lemont home on 135th Street, along with rent on a New York property.

Fakroune also scammed someone called Individual L, who handed over 2.85 million dollars in 2024 for what was supposed to be a marijuana business investment. The plea says Fakroune used most of that money to send himself weekly 20,000-dollar payments to chip away at his Lemont mortgage. To keep the scam believable, he displayed marijuana packaging and staged phone calls with fake investors to make the whole operation look legit.

The plea deal also describes a string of other shady deals across various businesses, including coffee shops and a Mexican restaurant, showing how wide Fakrune's web of fraud stretched before authorities finally caught up with him.