A suburban businessman has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly arranging two fraud schemes that netted him more than $4 million.
An indictment unsealed May 6 in U.S. District Court in Chicago charges Raed Naser with 11 counts of wire fraud and four counts of money laundering.
Naser at that time owned a freight transport company based in Orland Park. He is now the registered agent for Cedar Lake Coffee Inc., with an address of 8801 S. Harlem Ave. in Bridgeview.
According to the indictment, Naser engaged in two wire fraud schemes—one involving the submission of false invoices from Naser’s company for nonexistent freight shipping and the other involving bakery franchises that Naser sold to an unsuspecting buyer after fraudulently inflating their value. The money laundering charges accuse Naser of laundering the proceeds from the fraud schemes by, among other things, purchasing a Lamborghini Huracan, a BMW M8 Gran Coupe, and a Cadillac Escalade. The schemes started in 2019 and continued until August 2022.
Naser, 41, of Crown Point, Ind., pleaded not guilty at his arraignment last week before U.S. Magistrate Judge M. David Weisman in federal court in Chicago. A status hearing is now set for June 10, 2026, at 9:45 a.m., before U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman.
The indictment was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, and Nicholas Bucciarelli, Acting Inspector-in-Charge of the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Heidi Manschreck.