United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that a Rapid City, South Dakota, man convicted of Money Laundering and Bank Fraud was sentenced on March 9, 2018, by Chief Judge Jeffrey L. Viken, U.S. District Court.
Steven Knigge, age 71, was sentenced to 24 months of imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $200 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund and $31,793.60 in restitution.
Knigge was charged on March 22, 2016. The charges related to Knigge, an auditor and former fraud investigator for the South Dakota Department of Revenue, participating in a scheme in which e-mails were sent to various banks across the United States containing false and fraudulent information. The writer claimed to be an account holder, and instructed bank employees to wire large amounts of money to a separate bank account in South Dakota belonging to Knigge. In each case, the account holder’s e-mail address had either been hacked or mimicked using an e-mail address that closely resembled the bank customer’s actual e-mail address. A total of five banks were targeted, two of which transferred the money to Knigge’s account. When the money arrived, Knigge took a large portion of the money and sent it overseas using MoneyGram and Western Union.
This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Patterson prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
