News Topic: Recent Decisions

The U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska took the unusual step of directing the U.S. Marshall to located, arrest and incarcerate two pro se debtors found in civil contempt for repeatedly failing to obey orders of a Nebraska bankruptcy court.  ... Read full article

A bankruptcy fraud defendant who "relie[d] entirely on the generalized threat of COVID-19" and "failed to explain why he is particularly vulnerable to it" is not entitled to compassionate release under the First Step Act, ruled a ... Read full article

A South Carolina bankruptcy court last week ordered a local law firm to disclose the names of bankruptcy clients amidst a discovery dispute with the U.S. Trustee.  The attorney-client privilege, the court held, does not apply to information disclosed for ... Read full article

A North Carolina Bankruptcy Court recently upheld the advice of counsel defense to allegations that a debtor knowingly and fraudulently made a false oath in bankruptcy, confirming once again that debtors who reasonably act, after full disclosure to their ... Read full article

Updating an earlier post ( here ) on Anthony Levandowski's request for bankruptcy court approval to retain special criminal counsel in his chapter 11 bankruptcy case, it appears that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Hannah L. Blumenstiel approved the ... Read full article

The U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota recently denied a motion to compel a bankruptcy fraud defendant's former attorney to turn over his case file to assist the former-client in preparing an anticipated habeas petition.  ... Read full article

The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) furloughed a former bankruptcy lawyer serving a 63 month sentence following a guilty plea to several bankruptcy crimes.  Peter Ressler, 72, pled guilty in 2017 to wire fraud (18 U.S.C. 1343), embezzlement from a bankruptcy ... Read full article

A recent case that provides great practical lessons both for counsel and bankruptcy criminal defendants denied a defendant's motion to dismiss an indictment under circumstances where an alleged plea agreement on misdemeanor charges could not be ... Read full article

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida denied the request of a bankruptcy fraud defendant to modify the terms of his supervised released.  David Griffin was convicted, in connection a mortgage rescue scheme, of bankruptcy fraud and ... Read full article

The Third Circuit recently remanded the case of a bankruptcy fraud defendant for re-sentencing on the ground that the district court failed adequately to explain how it applied the statutory sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) and failed to explain ... Read full article

Does a false declaration made knowingly and fraudulenly in a bankruptcy case need to be "material" to constitute a bankruptcy crime?  The statute prohibiting such statements (18 U.S.C. ... Read full article