Ex-Winnetka Resident Gets More Than 4 Years for Not Paying Taxes on Illegal Gambling Business (UPDATED)

UPDATED (4:42 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1): The judge in the case revised the sentence for Alber Najjar from six years in prison to 57 months after noticing an error, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

ORIGINAL STORY

A former Winnetka resident who didn't pay taxes on at least $2.5 million he earned running an illegal gambling operation was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Alber Najjar, 62, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of filing a false tax return for failing to report the income he made from his illegal bookmaking ring. Najjar also was fined $5,000 and ordered to pay $1.07 million in back state and federal taxes.

Prosecutors originally asked for a four-year prison sentence, but the judge handed out a harsher punishment because of Najjar's lack of candor and remorse, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Najjar, who was born in Syria, ran his gambling operation from 1997 to 2001 in Illinois and Indiana. Before he was indicted in April of 2004, Najjar fled to Lebanon and was a fugitive for 11 years, traveling under the alias Alber Yakoub. He eventually was apprehended in Cyprus in November of 2015 and extradited to the United States.

Najjar also has ties to convicted Illinois political insider Antoin "Tony" Rezko, an adviser to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the Tribune reports.

PHOTO: (Image via Shutterstock)

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