The Bow, N.H., man accused of stealing money from a school charity he helped found is the son of a notorious embezzler who fled to Ukraine in a failed attempt to avoid arrest for investment fraud.
Matthew Knee, 34, was indicted last week on one count of theft by unauthorized taking for allegedly stealing money from CHS Legacy, a charity that gives scholarships to Concord High School students. Knee helped found CHS Legacy with a group of Concord High alumni in 2019.
That was the same year his father, James Knee, was sent to prison for fraud.
A Merrimack County grand jury returned 11 indictments against the elder Knee for theft by misapplication, theft by deception, financial exploitation of the elderly, and investment adviser fraud. According to the 2018 indictment, he bilked a 78-year-old client out of nearly half a million dollars by liquidating the elderly man’s assets and “prevailing upon him to write $345,000 in checks payable to Mr. Knee.”
James Knee then spent that money on personal expenses, among them: $10,000 a month to Florida woman and dressage rider Rebecca Larkin. Court records indicate Jim Knee met Larkin through a website called Night Flirts.
The relationship with Larkin was troubled, to say the least. The case file includes angry emails he sent to Larkin, calling her a “whore” after he hired a private investigator who photographed her with another man. Larkin was married at the time Jim Knee was sending her money, a fact she chose not to share with her benefactor, according to court records.
Larkin reported Jim Knee’s harassment to police after she found a tracking device hidden on her Porsche. She told police she did not have an intimate relationship with Jim Knee, but admitted that she “led him on,” according to statements filed in court.
Jim Knee was fired from his job as a financial adviser in 2016 as a criminal investigation into his business practices got underway. When his attorney was informed in 2017 that indictments were coming, Jim Knee took a flight to Ukraine, where he reportedly became engaged to another woman. Ukraine did not have an extradition treaty with the U.S. when Jim Knee went east.
Before wedding bells could ring for Jim Knee and his Ukrainian bride-to-be, he secretly returned to the U.S. and arranged for notes to be slid under the garage door of his victim. The notes urged the victim to lie to investigators about the money, according to court records. Jim Knee was under a court order prohibiting contact with the victim.
After engaging in that witness tampering, Jim Knee was next located getting on a plane for Mexico. He eventually turned up at Logan Airport in February 2018, and he was arrested shortly after his prolonged vacation.
He pleaded guilty in 2019 to financial exploitation, perjury, and witness tampering. Jim Knee has since been released from prison and is living in Manchester. He is required to pay more than $350,000 in restitution to the victim.
Now his son is under arrest, also for allegedly violating the trust of others and stealing their money.
Court records state Matthew Knee is one of two sons from Jim Knee’s first marriage. Like his father, Matthew Knee is a financial planner who operates New Hampshire Financial Services LLC.
Matthew Knee is due in Merrimack Superior Court on Dec. 12 for his arraignment.
