KC man used his children’s identities in $2.5 million tax fraud, feds say

A federal grand jury has returned an indictment against a 52-year-old Kansas City man, alleging that he used his children’s identities in an attempt to defraud the U.S. government of $2.5 million in tax refunds.

Michael A. Kheop was charged with three counts of making false claims, two counts of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

The indictment, filed under seal last week, was made public Wednesday following Kheop’s arrest.

According to court documents, the indictment alleges that Kheop filed false claims for income tax refunds totaling nearly $2.6 million in his and his children’s names from 2014 through 2018.

Kheop allegedly created a fraudulent entity called Al-Aleem Engineering in February 2013. He then created false W-2 forms containing false income and withholding under his and his children’s names, prosecutors say.

He then allegedly filed 12 fraudulent claims for returns on behalf of his three minor children for tax years 2014 through 2017. He also allegedly filed three fraudulent claims for refunds in his name.