Yes, people really do go to jail for hiding assets and lying in their bankruptcy. Even more surprising, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has an investigative department. Who knew?
Anyway, you can’t deceive a bankruptcy court. Here’s what happened, as reported in the New York Times:
Taken together, these intricate pieces and sparkling objects are valued at about $3 million. But they make up only a fraction of the jewelry and other collectibles that federal prosecutors say were at the center of an equally intricate series of frauds orchestrated by Ralph O. Esmerian, the former owner of the jewelry company Fred Leighton, who has draped his glittering treasures around the necks and wrists of celebrities in what some have called a red-carpet marketing campaign.
Agents from the United States Postal Inspection Service arrested Mr. Esmerian, 70, a former board president of the Museum of American Folk Art and one of its biggest patrons, on Monday morning. He was charged with bankruptcy fraud and wire fraud and concealing assets, and he appeared later in the day before a federal magistrate in United States District Court in Manhattan.
And that’s what you get when you hide stuff from your lawyer, trustee and judges.