Tag Archives: BankruptcyAttorney

Filing for bankruptcy requires honesty, precision and a commitment to financial responsibility. Mistakes, whether unintentional or willful, can result in your bankruptcy case being tossed by a judge or criminal charges. We can use real and hypothetical examples to show what you should never do before filing for bankruptcy. Be dishonest: Filing for bankruptcy requires a listing of current and past financial information. This includes debts you have accrued, current assets, income and expenses. Several months back, we wrote about the star of the series Dance Moms and how she failed to disclose $755,492 of income. The judge presiding over her Chapter 11 bankruptcy case was channel surfing and saw her appear on American Idol. Shortly thereafter, the judge realized it was possible the television star had committed bankruptcy fraud. The Dance Moms star now faces $250,000 in fines for each count of fraud and five years in prison. Take…
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Bankruptcy scams are obnoxious attempts to defraud borrowers who are desperate for financial help. According to the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA), people who have recently filed for bankruptcy or are just starting the process are being targeted by scammers who are posing as bankruptcy attorneys over the phone. Here’s how the scam works and some information on how people can protect themselves. The scammers are using Caller ID spoofers to make it appear like phone calls are coming from the law offices of bankruptcy attorneys. Scammers then instruct their targets to wire money for charges relating to their bankruptcy cases. Some people are given the choice to pay up or face arrest. Bankruptcy scammers are using public filing information to sound legitimate. Many people filing for bankruptcy might be unaware some electronic court information exists on record, making the phone call sound extra serious and scary. In…
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A federal judge has referred to a low-cost bankruptcy business as “a massive rip-off operation” and its operators as “dishonest and dangerously incompetent.” According to an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Critique Services LLC is accused of representing low-income clients, and then taking their money and abandoning their bankruptcy cases. Complaints against Critique Services allege the business would receive money from clients and then fail to file crucial paperwork. Clients would fork over several hundred or thousands of dollars and then be unable to reach their attorneys by phone or in person. Many people experienced additional financial hardships due to the highly unethical scheme. Critique Services would charge $296 for Chapter 7 cases and $4,000 for Chapter 13 cases. In 2013, the company made a reported $800,000. Many of the people affected by Critique Services were poor and unable to defend themselves. Allegedly, the operators of Critique Services knew…
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