A California doctor pleaded guilty Friday to charges he lied to federal investigators about arrangements with a politically connected Chicago businessman to have women travel out of state for high-paid trysts with him and others.
Dr. Hojat Askari, 58, who currently resides in Malibu, pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI. His plea agreement with prosecutors calls for up to 2 ½ years in prison, though Askari’s lawyers said they believe the sentencing guidelines should be as low as a year behind bars.
On its face a relatively straightforward prostitution investigation, the case against Askari has had political corruption undertones since his co-defendant, Iman Bambooyani, was a longtime business associate of the son-in-law of former Cook County Democratic boss Joseph Berrios.
Watching Askari pleading guilty Friday in U.S. District Judge Martha Pacold’s otherwise empty courtroom were top agents with the FBI’s public corruption squad.
Pacold set sentencing for March 20.
After court, Askari’s attorney, Meghan Blanco, said it’s clear that Askari was not the focus of the federal probe.
“Dr. Askari got caught up in an investigation into someone he thought was his friend,” Blanco said. “He made some very bad decisions years ago and is paying the consequences for it. But he is in a much different place in his life now and is excited that he will be able to put this behind him soon.”
Bambooyani, 43, who calls himself “The Wolf of Rush Street” on social media, pleaded guilty in June to a conspiracy count and is cooperating with the government in the hopes of getting a break on his sentence.
His attorney, Josh Adams, declined to comment Friday on what assistance Bambooyani might be giving investigators.
A flashy, politically connected businessman who has dabbled in everything from valet parking to restaurants, real estate, wind farms and telemedicine, Bambooyani has long-standing business ties to James Weiss, who was convicted last year of conspiring to pay off two sitting state legislators to support legislation expanding the use of so-called sweepstakes gaming machines.
Weiss, who is married to Berrios’ daughter, former state Rep. Maria “Toni” Berrios, was sentenced in October 2023 to 5 ½ years in prison.
In addition to once running the Cook County Democratic Party, Joe Berrios was also Cook County assessor from 2010 to 2018.
Bambooyani admitted in his plea agreement that between January and May 2018, he arranged for four women — two from Miami and two from Chicago — to travel to various states to have sex in exchange for money with Bambooyani, Askari and a business associate of theirs, identified only as “Individual A,” as well as others.
In addition to paying the women cash for sex, Bambooyani and Askari arranged for their travel and lodging in several cities, including Phoenix, Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida, according to the plea.
Askari allegedly wrote a number of checks from his business bank account for as much as $6,000 after each of the trips. Bambooyani deposited many of the checks into his personal bank account, according to the charges.
While details of the trysts were not included in the indictment or plea, a federal search warrant affidavit unsealed last year showed the women were given booze, cocaine and other narcotics during their travels and at events at Disney World and elsewhere. Text messages included in the affidavit showed one of the women asked another if it “seems like it never happened?”
“No not at all I’ve completely blocked it out too,” the other replied. “Plus we were on Xanax codeine and god knows what else lol.”
“The codeine oh my god,” the first woman responded.
FBI agents on Nov. 17, 2022, confronted Askari and showed him photos of some of the women and asked about the payments. Askari admitted in his plea that he lied when he denied having sex with any of the women introduced to him by Bambooyani.
He also falsely stated the payments he made to Bambooyani were reimbursements related to their business partnership as well as for the benefit of one of Bambooyani’s relatives.
Bambooyani is well known in several Chicago business circles, having teamed up with Weiss on a string of valet companies that provided services to pricey Rush Street restaurants and once had millions of dollars in city contracts to park cars on Chicago Public Schools properties as well as other city-owned locations.
On his Instagram profile, Bambooyani repeatedly refers to himself as the “Wolf of Rush Street” with photos depicting a lifestyle of cigars, nightclubs and travel to Turkey, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other exotic locations. One photo showed Bambooyani having dinner at Gibsons Italia in Chicago in 2017 with a beaming Weiss and Toni Berrios.
When Bambooyani’s case was charged last year, he was represented by the same attorney as Weiss, Ilia Usharovich, who later withdrew from Bambooyani’s case due to potential conflicts, records show.
Weiss’ brother, Joseph Weiss, has also pleaded guilty to charges he lied to the FBI about his brother’s connections to mob figures, including now-deceased Outfit hit man Frank “The German” Schweihs. He’s scheduled to be sentenced later this month.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
