Chicago man charged with unclaimed property fraud

A Chicago man is accused of trying to steal more than $500,000 in unclaimed property from the state treasurer's office.

Shaheed Tamir, 41, is charged with three counts of theft of government property over $100,000 and 14 counts of forgery for attempting to receive unclaimed property that belonged to two companies he had no relation to, the Illinois attorney general's office announced Wednesday.

Unclaimed property is cash or assets forgotten or abandoned by the owner. It can be anything from a dormant bank account to a refund from an overpaid bill. In Illinois, if no one claims these items after three years, the bank or business holding it must turn it over to the state.

Illinois holds the money or asset until the owner or rightful heir claims it through a process with the Illinois Treasurer’s Office.

“Anyone who fraudulently claims property through Illinois’ Unclaimed Property Program is stealing from the people of Illinois as well as the rightful owners of that property,” state Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a news release.

Tamir allegedly claimed to be a manager at Botta Capital Management LLC and New Edge LLC between April 2018 and February 2021. After filing annual reports for both companies to the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, Tamir then allegedly filed fraudulent unclaimed property claims with the treasurer’s office.

The investigation began after the treasurer’s office flagged the claims, which had already been paid, as potential fraud.

Tamir was charged in April in another unclaimed property fraud case, that time involving Wittek Corp. He was charged with theft of government property over $100,000, two counts of forgery, two counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud. The attorney general's office told the Sun-Times that case is still pending.

His next court date is set for Feb. 6.

State Treasurer Michael Frerichs — who detailed to the Sun-Times in October about steps his office takes to detect unclaimed property fraud — said this case shows efforts to limit fraudulent claims are working.

“We take our duty to guard unclaimed property seriously,” Frerichs said in a news release. “I appreciate the professionalism of Attorney General Raoul to bring this case to justice and the General Assembly for providing us the resources to upgrade our fraud prevention systems.”