Stony Brook magazine publisher in Illinois court on theft charges

A Stony Brook magazine publisher was in an Illinois court this week to contest criminal charges in the alleged embezzlement of more than $2 million from his former employer, his lawyer said. 

The publisher, Ian Gittlitz, has pleaded not guilty to theft charges, Chicago attorney Ronald Menaker said in a telephone interview Friday.

Gittlitz, 60, was present in court Tuesday in Waukegan, Ill., in Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Lake County, Ill., where his attorney argued that the charges against him should not have been filed in Illinois. 

Menaker argued in court Tuesday that "the allegations took place outside the state of Illinois", the lawyer said. 

Prosecutors charge that Gittlitz, as chief financial officer for ICD Publications Inc., double-billed ICD for his expenses from 2000 to 2007. ICD, based in Lincolnshire, publishes Homeworld Business and Hotel Business magazines. 

Gittlitz is out on bail after his arrest, which took place in 2009. Due to a reporting error, a Friday story in Newsday said Gittlitz was arrested last month. 

A decision on the merits of Gittlitz's motion to dismiss the Illinois charges is due sometime in April, Menaker said.