Chikoo Patel Countersues Shai Wolkowicki

The bitter legal battle over a collapsed South Side Chicago multifamily portfolio is escalating, with ousted property manager Chikoo Patel firing back against his former investors.

Patel, the former head of Chicago-based CKO Real Estate before its dissolution, was sued last fall by Shai Wolkowicki, a Boca Raton, Florida-based investor with Chicago ties who alleged Patel embezzled over $10 million in a “Ponzi-like scheme,” and left a trail of distressed and dilapidated properties across Illinois. Many of their properties were concentrated in and near the South Shore neighborhood, where tenants grew increasingly agitated by deteriorating building conditions at CKO-managed complexes over the previous few years.

However, in a sweeping set of counterclaims filed in Cook County court last month, Patel alleges that Wolkowicki and Patel’s own former attorney orchestrated a fraudulent scheme to strip Patel of his 40 percent stake across 46 property-owning entities.

At the center of the dispute is an “Interim Settlement Agreement” signed on Feb. 26, 2025. After Wolkowicki confronted Patel with allegations of financial mismanagement, Patel signed the document, which required him to forfeit his equity, step down as property manager and pay at least $2 million to the other investors. Patel’s counterclaims allege Wolkowicki fraudulently induced him to sign the 72-page agreement with a false verbal promise that the $2 million penalty would be offset by proceeds from future property sales.

Even more dramatic are Patel’s allegations against his former attorney, Animesh Ravani of Northstone Law. Patel’s rebuttal accuses Ravani of profound professional misconduct, alleging Ravani drafted the “unconscionable” settlement to benefit himself, as Ravani was also a fellow investor in the portfolio. During the meeting when Wolkowicki allegedly issued an ultimatum, Ravani reportedly refused to offer Patel legal advice, despite having just handed him a letter stating his firm would “continue to provide legal representation.”

“Wolkowicki was not a passive bystander; he was an active participant in the business who now seeks to lay all responsibility at Patel’s feet while enriching himself through the fraudulently procured interim settlement agreement,” Patel’s counterclaim said. He’s asking the court to declare the agreement unenforceable, and to void Patel’s assignment of interests in various properties to Wolkowicki.

On the other hand, Wolkowicki’s camp is asking the court to throw out Patel’s counterclaims entirely, characterizing the filing in a May 11 memorandum as a desperate case of “buyer’s remorse.” By signing the contract, Wolkowicki’s attorneys argue, Patel legally affirmed that he was not relying on outside verbal promises and admitted “sole and complete responsibility” for dozens of unauthorized transfers of funds from within their multifamily businesses to himself and affiliates he controlled.

Patel, through his attorney M. Reas Bowman, declined to comment. Ravani said he was unavailable to comment Friday.

“There is no merit to the claims levied against me as you’ll see from our court filings. We intend to vigorously prosecute our causes of action,” Wolkowicki said, declining further comment due to the active litigation.

Mountain of Debt

The breakup with Wolkowicki is just one front in a sprawling landscape of lawsuits against Patel. As their former real estate empire unravels, Patel faces a growing avalanche of complaints from frustrated lenders, corporate creditors and allegedly stiffed vendors. The sheer volume of litigation threatens to overwhelm any of his remaining holdings.

Trouble started mounting for Patel back in 2024, when he and Ravani were ordered by Cook County Judge Jerry Ersig to pay Byline Bank $2.3 million plus interest and attorneys fees. The debt stemmed from a guarantee they provided for a loan that went into default at a Rockford apartment complex, public records show.

But Patel has put an end to some of the litigation he has drawn. The Byline Bank judgment appears to have been satisfied, or the lender stopped pursuing collection, as the lawsuit hasn’t been reopened since the judgment was issued.

Patel and Wolkowicki also owned an Oak Park multifamily property that faced a $2.3 million foreclosure lawsuit filed by Old National Bank earlier this year. But the buildings at 316-324 Lake Street in the western suburb were subsequently sold with the lender’s consent, thus resolving the dispute, legal records show.

Yet Old National is also pursuing a more than $16 million claim against Patel, stemming from a guarantee that he provided for a loan against a 220-unit apartment complex co-owned with Wolkowicki downstate in Springfield, the Illinois capitol. Patel hasn’t so far made an appearance in the lawsuit, while Wolkowicki answered the complaint by claiming Old National has delayed a sale of the property and diminished its value. The bank last month filed a motion for a default judgment against Patel for the entire amount of the loan, plus fees and interest. If Old National wins a judgement from the court, Patel could be on the hook to pay out of pocket to make the bank whole following a foreclosure sale of the Springfield property.

Furthermore, pressure from secondary lenders is building as well, with Chicago-based Renovo Financial obtaining a nearly $62,500 judgement against Patel in February. The debt stemmed from a sale of a former Patel-managed property at 7655 South Coles Avenue in Chicago that failed to cover the property’s full $833,000 loan Renovo provided.

Alternative financing firms have also come calling. Itria Ventures is suing Patel and his ROC Development Group for $132,689.60, alleging breach of contract over a future receivables sale agreement. The financial squeeze is already hitting Patel personally. American Express last month sought a $63,000 judgement against him in unpaid credit card bills, court records show.

Wolkowicki’s Separate Battles

While Wolkowicki attempts to clean up the CKO Real Estate mess and fend off Patel’s counterclaims, he is simultaneously waging a multi-front legal war with a separate lawsuit against his former business partner, Mitch Goltz.

In an October 2025 complaint, Wolkowicki and his firm Ruby Development Group sued Goltz over their fractured real estate ventures, including over the handling of more than $2 million in proceeds from their $30 million sale of Church Street Plaza in Evanston to Chicago-based Continuum Capital.

However, in a recent setback for Wolkowicki, a Cook County judge granted Goltz’s motion to compel arbitration on several of the dispute’s key claims. The ruling effectively pushes a significant portion of the litigation behind closed doors into private negotiation — a venue and outcome Goltz had pushed for to resolve the fractured partnership away from the public docket.

Wolkowicki, however, isn’t backing down. He is working to reverse the judge’s order for arbitration, attempting to keep his preferred claims moving forward in court. The resulting legal posture leaves Wolkowicki fighting across multiple arenas at once: sorting out claims with Goltz in private arbitration, appealing to keep other claims against Goltz alive in public court, and simultaneously conducting a high-stakes war against Patel’s explosive fraud allegations.