A south suburban contractor involved in the public corruption case against former Ald. Carrie Austin now is charged in a scheme to bribe an employee of the Cook County Assessor’s office.

Alex Nitchoff is accused of conspiring to bribe a key employee handling commercial properties with home improvement goods and services, jewelry, meals and sports tickets in exchange for property assessment reductions beginning in 2017. Such assessments are closely tied to how property taxes are calculated.

Nitchoff also offered the use of his Florida home to Lavdim Memisovski in 2019, and asked if the county employee had any other house projects that needed work because, as Nitchoff was recorded saying, he was “gonna owe ya,” according to a charging document handed down Friday.

He also faces two counts of using a cell phone to facilitate alleged acts of bribery.

Companies owned by Nitchoff, 56, his late brother Constantino Nitchoff and their late father, Boris Nitchoff had done millions of dollars in construction and rehab work for the city of Chicago. Among their many private construction projects was a housing development on the Far South Side — along Honorary South Nitchoff Avenue — that’s been a target of residents’ complaints. 

The family’s business dealings have been the subject of several Chicago Sun-Times investigations. 

Memisovski had been working at that time for Assessor Joseph Berrios who, before he lost in 2019 to Fritz Kaegi, was the powerful head of the Cook County Democratic Party.

Memosovski’s job was to assess values of commercial properties in Cook County and review their property tax appeals. Prosecutors say that, in return for the alleged bribes, Memisovski “ensured that appeals of property assessments related to Nitchoff and his business associates were routed to himself so that he could extend deadlines for the filing of appeals and reduce assessed property values.”

After pleading guilty in August, Memisovski faces up to five years in prison, though prosecutors have agreed to recommend probation in exchange for his full cooperation. Memisovski’s plea agreement includes his admission that other assessor’s employees were involved in what he was doing.

The case against Nitchoff, a Lemont resident, came to light Monday in an unusual way — as an exhibit in Memosovski’s case as federal prosecutors seek to move it before the same judge now assigned to Nitchoff.

Nitchoff’s attorney could not immediately be reached.