By Daniel Hart, Paralegal and Salene Mazur Kraemer, Esquire.
In October 2015, every Pittsburgh local news outlet and national entertainment magazine reported on the bankruptcy fraud story of Abby Lee Miller. We have previously written here about her Chapter 11 Case: “Dance Mom” Instructor Abby Lee Miller Files for Chapter 11 Protection: Public Disclosure of Private Facts: Abby is the controversial star of the reality television show, “Dance Moms”. Her often abrasive personality is in contrast to the glitter of dance and beauty of her young dancers. She is quick to throw scathing insults at any of the children and their sometimes overly zealous Dance mothers.
Abby Lee filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010, in Bankruptcy Court here in Pittsburgh. After some television surfing by a local bankruptcy judge and a subsequent investigation by local authorities, Abby may have committed bankruptcy fraud.
What is bankruptcy fraud? It is a white-collar crime that generally has taken four general forms:
- Debtors conceal assets to avoid having to forfeit them;
- Individuals intentionally file false or incomplete forms (underreporting income, overstating liabilities);
- Individuals file multiple times using false information or real information in several states;
- Debtors bribe a court-appointed trustee.