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A suburban Chicago businessman from Indiana who operated a business in Orland Park, Illinois, has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly orchestrating a pair of fraud schemes that netted him more than $4 million.
An indictment unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago charges Raed Naser with eleven counts of wire fraud and four counts of money laundering.
Naser owned a freight transport company based in Orland Park, Ill.
According to the indictment, Naser engaged in two wire fraud schemes—one involving the submission of false invoices from Naser’s company for nonexistent freight shipping and the other involving bakery franchises that Naser sold to an unsuspecting buyer after fraudulently inflating their value.
The money laundering charges accuse Naser of laundering the proceeds from the fraud schemes by, among other things, purchasing a Lamborghini Huracan, a BMW M8 Gran Coupe, and a Cadillac Escalade.
Naser, 41, of Crown Point, Ind., pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge M. David Weisman in federal court in Chicago.
A status hearing is now set for June 10, 2026, at 9:45 a.m., before U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman.
The indictment was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, and Nicholas Bucciarelli, Acting Inspector-in-Charge of the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Heidi Manschreck.
The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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