A federal judge in U.S. District Court in Chicago sentenced the owner of a residential contracting company to five years in prison Aug. 14 for bribing a local official to lower the assessed value of properties he developed.

Alex Nitchoff, 57, the owner and president of Summit, Ill.-based Oakk Construction, pleaded guilty in January to one count each of conspiracy to defraud the United States and racketeering after prosecutors said he bribed Lavdim Memisovski, a commercial group leader with the Cook County Assessor’s Office.