The speculation of exactly how harsh the government will punish Evan Knoll shall end on Wednesday when he is officially sentenced after pleading guilty to all of the charges levied against him. The sentence is expected to be very significant, so much so that his attorney has filed a document with the court asking them to go easy on Knoll. According to MLive.com, the 19-page document lays out reasons for the court to sentence Knoll under the expected maximums that he could be facing for bank fraud, filing false reports with the government and other charges. On the other side, government attorney Michael McDonals’s sentencing memo asserts that the sentence should be ramped up as Knoll was found to be faking a mental disorder during his time of observation to determine mental competency for trial.

While it seems that Knoll’s attorney is simply doing his job and arguing for what is in the best interest of his client, it seems to be nothing more than arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic at this point. The guy defrauded the government out of tens of millions of dollars and seemed to be on track to continue the scheme uninterrupted before the feds caught on and took him down. He then faked being mentally ill in order to avoid trouble, following that he was harassing a government witness and trying to obtain firearms. We’re probably missing other missteps in there, but you get the picture.

This quote from the MLive story, which was taken from the document Knoll’s attorney filed struck us as particularly interesting:

“The amount of money in this case is staggering … The temptation for quick material wealth, and all the notoriety that came with it, became infectious. He wishes he could roll the clock back and settle back in to the quieter, small town lifestyle he has always known.”

We saw Evan Knoll at the drags when he was at the height of his largess and power. The guys was literally living the life of a rock star with all of the trappings associated with it. Of course, unlike a rock star, the whole thing was a sham. He seemed all to happy to be rid of the “small town lifestyle” during those days and given the chance, we’re pretty sure he’s pick sticking with his scheme than to go back to being Evan Knoll, guy from Decatur, Michigan.

Hit the link to read the MLive story here