Investigating & Recovering Hidden Money & Other Assets
An asset search for any bankruptcy estate property hidden during a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, usually begins with an investigation of the debtor’s court filings. For example, the following court filings may contain red flags that a debtor has concealed assets / property:
Critical to an asset…
Harold is an asset recovery agent, ("repo man"), who works in New England. He sometimes lives out of his tow truck for a couple of days while searching for a particular debtor’s automobile. When I recently called Harold on his cell phone, he said: "Until I put the GPS in my tow truck…
With the lawsuit ending in a large money judgment in favor of the Judgment Creditor, the Debtor filed for bankruptcy in order to protect his personal assets. To collect on its judgment against the Debtor, the Judgment Creditor then filed a proof of claim as an unsecured creditor in the bankruptcy. The Judgment Creditor thought…
People don’t typically think of the common money laundering indicia when searching for hidden assets the subject of a: divorce; bankruptcy; commercial collection or other legal proceeding. Such indicia can be effectively used as part of an asset search / recovery effort even in situations where there is no money laundering. In the United States,…
According to page nine of the 2005 U.S. Trustee’s Annual Report: "Every year since 1996, more than one million individuals and businesses have filed bankruptcy, making the bankruptcy caseload the largest in the federal court system". Since it detects and combats bankruptcy fraud, the U.S. Trustee Program is a critical part of the bankruptcy…
When fraudulent transfers are used to hide assets the subject of a debt collection, divorce, or bankruptcy case, the Court looks for badges of fraud. As explained in Wall Street Associates v. Brodsky, 257 A.D.2d 526, 529 (1st Dept 1999), the badges of fraud for fraudulent asset transfers or conveyances are:
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