The old Allen Park building where Chris Knebel ran his business.
DETROIT, Mich. (FOX 2) – Christopher Knebel, known as “Tax Man Chris” of Allen Park, was sentenced to five years in prison and three years of probation and ordered to pay $512,000 in restitution for his role in a pandemic unemployment insurance fraud scheme.
Kneebel also worked seasonally as a manager for Party City, a retail chain that sold party supplies. Through his employment at Party City, Kneebel had access to files on people who had worked for or applied to work at the company.
These files included I-9 employment verification forms provided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to Party City employees and applicants, which attested to the applicants' eligibility to work in the U.S. Around 2019, Niebel stole many of these I-9 forms from Party City, which contained a large amount of applicants' personal identifying information, such as names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth.
“Niebel retained these documents for future use. Once Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds became available, Niebel used the personal information he misappropriated from Party City in a scheme to submit false benefit claims in order to defraud the Michigan Department of Unemployment Insurance. Specifically, Niebel used the personally identifiable information of Party City job seekers to submit electronic applications for Pandemic Unemployment Benefits without the permission, approval, or knowledge of those individuals.”
Knebel pleaded guilty in February to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to Dawn Ison, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Knebel opened numerous bank accounts in Michigan to obtain PUA funds that were wired to those accounts.
