Madigan charges alleged suburban 'bootleggers' with tax evasion

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is charging several suburban men who operate Chicago liquor stores with evading more than $3.5 million in sales taxes collectively.

Madigan said the men falsified tax records between July 2010 and December 2013 by bringing in "bootlegged" untaxed liquor from out of state.

Madigan announced the charges against nine men Thursday as part of a joint investigation with the Illinois Department of Revenue.

Mukesh Patel, 62; Nishant Patel, 33; and Vishal Patel, all of Des Plaines, are charged with sales tax evasion of more than $100,000, according to Madigan's office. Facing the same charges are Jiggarkumar Patel, 37, of Schaumburg, and Rajanikant Patel, 44, of Hoffman Estates. A Tinley Park man and an Indiana man were also charged with the same thing. These seven men face a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted.

Two other men, one from Oak Lawn and another from Indiana, face lesser charges of evading sales taxes of more than $10,000 and could be sentenced to as much as seven years in prison if convicted.