Boston Blackie's owners charged with check scheme

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez announced charges Thursday against two owners and an employee of the Boston Blackie's restaurant chain in what she described as a "sophisticated, complex check-kiting scheme."

At a news conference in Chicago, Alvarez said Boston Blackie's owners Nick Giannis, 62, and Chris Giannis, 38, and restaurant manager Andy Bakopoulos, 38, wrote checks on bank accounts that had no funds, deposited those checks in other bank accounts and immediately began withdrawing money from those accounts.

She said the scheme began in 2008 and involved several banks, including Charter One, which lost $1.3 million in the scheme, and Washington Mutual, which lost about $833,000. Banks used by the defendants, she said, included J.P. Morgan Chase, New Century Bank, Citizen's Bank and Trust and Broadway Bank, which is owned by the family of state Treasurer and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias.

Nick Giannis, his son Chris and Bakopoulos were charged with two counts of felony theft, which carries a possible sentence of four-to-15 years in prison. Chris Giannis also was also charged with organizing a continuing financial crimes enterprise, a Class X felony punishable by six to 30 years in prison. All three men are from Chicago.

Boston Blackie's has three locations in Chicago, as well as restaurants in Arlington Heights, Naperville, Deerfield, Glencoe and Skokie.

Prosecutors and police began investigating the case in 2009 on a source's tip, said Alvarez, who declined to identify the source. A state's attorney spokeswoman said Bakopoulos and Chris Giannis turned themselves in to authorities late Wednesday. Nick Giannis was apprehended early Thursday at the Canadian border, Alvarez said.

Nick and Chris Giannis and Andy Bakopoulos could not immediately be reached for comment.

The investigation was carried out by the state's attorney's Special Prosecutions Bureau and the Chicago Police Department.

"My office remains committed to rooting out and prosecuting white-collar crime at the local level here in Cook County," Alvarez said, "and this case is a prime example of our ongoing efforts."