Lake in the Hills businessman wants $3M tax evasion conviction sealed

A Lake in the Hills man who pleaded guilty in 2022 to defrauding the state out of more than $3 million in sales tax revenue from a group of Denny’s restaurants he owned is seeking to have his conviction sealed.

Kenneth Kilberger was convicted of sales tax evasion, a Class 1 felony, and was sentenced to four years in prison, according to documents in the McHenry County court and a news release from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. The attorney general said at the time that Kilberger withheld $42 million in restaurant revenue from the state.

Kilberger, 56, paid $25,800 in court fines and more than $3 million in restitution to the Illinois Department of Revenue, records show.

As a licensed certified public accountant since 1995, Kilberger, 56, still faces discipline by the State Of Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Division of Professional Regulation, according to a complaint by the agency submitted to McHenry County courts by the Illinois Attorney General’s office in its objection to Kilberger’s request.

According to the department of professional regulation’s complaint, Kilberger’s “criminal felony conviction constitutes engaging in dishonorable, unethical, or unprofessional conduct of a character likely to deceive, defraud, or harm the public.” He could lose his license and be fined $10,000, according to the complaint.

Raoul has objected to Kilberger’s record being sealed, according to the attorney general’s response in the McHenry County court. Among the reasons are that he is not eligible to have his record sealed until March 19, 2026. Raoul’s response also said that sealing his conviction “will have the effect of thwarting any disciplinary action or complaint against his CPA license undertaken by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.”

In the criminal case, the attorney general alleged that from January 2016 to October 2020, Kilberger evaded taxes on sales from 11 Denny’s restaurants he owned and operated within Illinois. Kilberger underreported the restaurants’ sales by about $42 million, defrauding the state out of more than $3 million in tax revenue, according to a news release issued by the attorney general’s office at the time of Kilberger’s conviction.

Court records indicate Kilberger pleaded guilty in July 2022. It’s not clear how much time he actually served but he was released from parole in March 2023, according to court documents.

Kilberger at the time was president and CEO of PFC Classic Dining Restaurant Group of Algonquin, which owns 29 Denny’s locations in Illinois and Indiana and one Ruby Tuesday in Wisconsin, according to the company’s website. He is currently listed in Secretary of State records as the agent for PFC Management Dining, based in Lake in the Hills.

The law allows for some criminal records to be expunged or sealed. To expunge means criminal records are destroyed, while sealing records hides them records from public view. Sealing or expunging criminal records keeps them out of public background checks from employers and landlords. Sealed records can still be accessed by some government agencies and law enforcement.

Kilberger’s attorneys could not be reached for comment.