Real estate broker sentenced to 50 months in prison for $3 million fraud scheme

By CNN Newsource

Published April 9, 2025 3:08 PM

By Todd Feurer

CHICAGO (WBBM) — A Chicago real estate broker is headed to federal prison for scamming investors out of more than $3 million.

Stanislav “Steve” Sannikov, 42, was sentenced to four years and two months in prison on Friday, after pleading guilty last year to a federal wire fraud charge.

Sannikov owned Chestnut Realty Group, and prosecutors said from 2016 to 2020, he promised big profits on fake property deals – convincing victims to wire money into what he claimed were escrow accounts.

Prosecutors said those accounts were just personal checking accounts he used to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Sannikov had lied to his victims by telling them they were investing in properties that were for sale, and that could be resold or leased for a substantial profit, when the properties were not actually available for sale.

One victim in his 70s was forced to delay his retirement due to his losses.

“This was not a one-time lapse in judgment,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri H. Mecklenburg argued in the government’s sentencing recommendation. “Defendant, over the course of at least four years, designed and engaged in a calculated, sustained, multi-faceted scheme to defraud multiple individuals.”

In addition to his prison sentence, Sannikov must pay $2.19 million in restitution to four victims of his scam.

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