After failing to report debts she incurred using stolen identities, Chapter 7 bankruptcy debtor, Ramie Marston is facing bankruptcy fraud charges.Assistant U.S. Attorney Al Rubega told those jurors that Marston filed for bankruptcy on March 12, 2009, listing her name and one alias; Robbie Marston. She signed under the penalties of perjury, he said, that she hadn’t used any other name during the eight years that preceded her bankruptcy filing.
Marston didn’t list the names Sarah Calderon, Kristy Kromer, Susan Blake or Ramie Brown, in spite of the fact that she obtained credit and incurred debt under those names, said the prosecutor. Three of them will testify against Marston this week, he said. Two of them flew from Nevada to do so.
Simply leaving off information on your bankruptcy petition is not a crime, unless there is an intention to defraud, deceive or somehow manipulate the bankruptcy system. For example, if the bankruptcy debtor was attempting to conceal that she had some debts or pending litigation against her then that is an effort to manipulate the bankruptcy system. Or, if she was trying to delay the collection of a debt by filing bankruptcy, this could also be a manipulation of the bankruptcy system.
The debtor in this case was convicted of stealing her nanny’s ID and fraudulently accumulating $50,000 in debt in the nanny’s name right before she filed bankruptcy. Her bankruptcy petition indicated that she was disputing the debt owed to the nanny. So it was clear that she intended to use bankruptcy to avoid paying the nanny what she was owed. The bankruptcy trustee in this case also pointed out that she lied on her bankruptcy petition saying that she did not have a bank account and of course failed to mention that she used other aliases besides her real name. A juror is set to deliberate on the bankruptcy fraud case; but the judge has already mentioned that he thinks the evidence against this debtor is overwhelming and we will have to agree with that assessment.
(source: Seacoastonline.com )