Cops: Jailed land swindler scams behind bars
A disbarred attorney who was convicted of stealing land from a church pulled off a similar scam while being held in Cook County Jail, according to authorities.
Phillip Radmer of Berwyn allegedly sold property on Chicago's West Side that belonged to Providence-St. Mel School, without school officials' knowledge, to a real estate investor and developer. George Kouvelis is now paying off a mortgage on property he really does not own. Kouvelis said he has talked with investigators from the Cook County state's attorney's office.
Land records show that on Sept. 10, a company owned by Kouvelis and his brother paid $110,000 for the vacant land. Kouvelis said his losses on the purchase are actually higher because to buy the lot, he had to pay another party an additional $75,000.
"I have to make payments on the mortgage, and now it is all messed up," Kouvelis told the Chicago Tribune. He said he dreads trying to find an attorney to straighten out the legal mess because "attorneys don't even want to take cases like this."
Radmer was able to pull off the alleged sale by persuading a friend, Robert Duffing, to assume control of La Terra Real Estate Inc., a firm Radmer created, and sell the lot to Kouvelis, said Robert Habib, a lawyer who is representing Duffing.
"As far as I was concerned, it was just a simple real estate deal," Duffing told the Tribune.
Habib said Duffing was misled by Radmer, who split the $110,000 that Kouvelis paid La Terra for the property with his friend.
That the lot was sold seems "unbelievable" to Jack Edelbrock, an attorney who works with Providence-St. Mel.
"How craven is this Radmer that he did from his jail cell?" Edelbrock said.
Cook County Circuit Judge Stanley Sacks in September convicted Radmer of eight counts of theft and two counts of forgery.
Prosecutors said Radmer stole land belonging to the First Presbyterian Church by setting up a bogus corporation with a fake board of directors that approved the sale of the property to pretend buyers.