Opinion ID: 714125
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Bankruptcy Fraud (counts 32-34 (Ross only))

Text: 82 Ross was charged and convicted on three counts of bankruptcy fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 152. One count charged him with fraudulently transferring ISC assets to a company he controlled and to his friend, Lesia Gast. The other two counts charged him with filing false reports in an attempt to make the transfers appear legitimate. Ross argues that since ISC, and not Ross, was technically the bankrupt, he could not properly be convicted under § 152. Ostensibly as support for the proposition that § 152 applies only to bankrupts themselves, Ross cites several cases from the dawn of this century--namely Tapack v. United States, 220 F. 445 (3d Cir.1915); Israel v. United States, 3 F.2d 743 (6th Cir.1925); Carter v. United States, 19 F.2d 431 (8th Cir.1927). What Ross does not acknowledge is that his cited cases were interpreting § 29b(1) of the Bankruptcy Act of 1898, which by its own language prohibited fraudulent concealment of assets while a bankrupt. Section 152 of the Bankruptcy Code under which Ross was convicted contains no such limitation, but instead broadly criminalizes: 83 Whoever knowingly and fraudulently makes a false declaration, certificate, verification, or statement under penalty [of 5 ] perjury ... in or in relation to any case under title 11; or ... 84 Whoever, either individually or as an agent or officer of any person or corporation, ... with intent to defeat the provisions of title 11, knowingly and fraudulently transfers or conceals any of his property or the property of such other person or corporation.... 85 18 U.S.C. § 152. Ross's argument that his status as a nonbankrupt renders him unsusceptible to conviction under this statute, which does not confine its reach only to bankrupts, has no merit.