Buffalo business owner charged with bank fraud for defrauding customers out of more than a million dollars

Date: July 16, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

Buffalo, NY - U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Jason Knobloch of Lancaster, NY, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with bank fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, since February 2021, Knobloch and others have been carrying out a scheme involving the fraudulent sales of forklifts and other similar equipment, claiming to sell these items through various companies that they controlled. The companies included KJJK Equipment Sales d/b/a Kelly Lift Equipment and Clover Lift Equipment d/b/a Lifts 4 Less. Victims conducted online searches for equipment and would either contact, or be contacted by, employees of Knobloch's companies. Cost negotiations were conducted and once an agreement was reached, victims were provided with payment instructions. However, after ordering and paying for the equipment, it was either never delivered or, in rare instances, equipment of lesser value was sent instead of what was actually ordered.

When victims contacted Knobloch's businesses regarding their orders, they were initially given various excuses about why the equipment had not been delivered. Eventually, the companies stopped responding to victim emails and phone calls altogether. In the rare instance equipment was delivered, serial numbers for the delivered equipment did not match the serial numbers for the ordered equipment and the hours on the delivered equipment were much higher than what was advertised. Partial and full refunds occurred occasionally, but typically only after the company was confronted and advised that legal action was forthcoming.

In total, Knobloch and his co-conspirators have defrauded approximately 32 victims, resulting in more than a million dollars in fraud loss. The investigation also identified additional fraud attempts in which Knobloch sought to deposit checks utilizing customers' bank account information without the customers' knowledge and consent and long after the victims first attempted to purchase equipment. For example, in December 2021, the owner of Plumb Level and Square sent a $59,900.00 check to Lifts 4 Less, which was cashed on Dec. 21, 2021, but the equipment was never delivered. In August 2022, approximately eight months later, the owner stated that an attempt was made to cash a check, made out to Knobloch, utilizing the owner's bank account information. Another attempt to deposit $59,900.00 utilizing the banking information of Plumb Level and Square was made in September 2022. Several more similar attempts were made to deposit checks totaling $27,000.00, $22,600.00, and $28,400.00, utilizing customers' bank account information without their knowledge. Impacted financial institutions included Bank of America, Citizens Bank, and Good Neighbors Federal Credit Union.

Knobloch was ordered released on home confinement following a detention hearing this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas A. C. Penrose. The complaint is the culmination of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Harry T. Chavis, Jr and Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Anthony Patrone.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.