Former auto mogul, Denny Hecker, confessed to having a friend buy back his dirt bike and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle at a bankruptcy court auction of his belongings.
The Pioneer Press, citing court papers filed Monday, reports on Hecker’s disclosure that he used the name of a fake business and a credit card belonging to a former employee to make his bids online ahead of a May 25 auction. Hecker then directed John Prosser to pay $17,000 for the items and pick them up from the auctioneer.
And if that wasn’t enough, the check that Hecker wrote Prosser bounced. Hecker, who filed for bankruptcy in 2009 with $767 million in debt, is facing a 10 year prison sentence after being found guilty of bankruptcy fraud. Hecker’s confession was prompted when the bankruptcy trustee in his case recently became suspicious of how the former auto mogul was able to get his possessions back.
Hecker has engaged in deceptive and manipulative behavior throughout his bankruptcy case, prompting authorities to imprison him due to fears that he was a flight risk. Also, he is accused of hiding assets and wasting taxpayer money to get a public defender when in fact, according to the suspicions of the bankruptcy trustee, he was able to afford one all along for his bankruptcy case.
Debtors who want to destroy their bankruptcy case will follow the lead of Hecker. Using backhanded and deceptive practices to regain assets sold off in the bankruptcy auction will definitely raise the ire of the trustee, stoke suspicious that you’re hiding assets and prompt an investigation into possible bankruptcy fraud, not to mention the denial of a bankruptcy discharge.