Man Sentenced to Six and a Half Years in Prison for Extorting Money From Chicago Restaurateur

CHICAGO - After being convicted by a federal jury, a man has been sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison for threatening and assaulting a Chicago restaurateur to collect a debt.

JAWAD FAKROUNE loaned approximately $405,000 to the restaurateur to develop and open a new restaurant in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago and to pay certain taxes. In November 2024, Fakroune began to threaten the restaurateur about repayment of the loan. On the evening of Nov. 25, 2024, Fakroune confronted the restaurateur and threatened him over the manner and nature of the repayments. Fakroune choked, kicked, and punched the restaurateur, while continuing to demand money and repeatedly threatening the lives of the restaurateur and his family.

A jury in federal court in Chicago earlier this year convicted Fakroune, also known as "Angelino Escobar" or "Anjelino Escobar," 46, on both extortion counts against him. On June 30, 2026, U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah sentenced Fakroune to 78 months in federal prison. Fakroune is a foreign national who recently resided in the Chicago area.

The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Lucas Rothaar, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, and Marta Grijalva, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in Chicago.

"The offenses of conviction reflect defendant's violent nature, danger to the community, and lawlessness," Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean Hennessy and Richard M. Rothblatt argued in the government's sentencing memorandum. "Business disputes are resolved in courts of law-not through violent confrontations in public restaurants."