Former Husband and Wife Plead Guilty to Bankruptcy Fraud

POCATELLO - Benjamin Gunn, 46, of Rock Springs, Wyoming, and Melody Gunn, 45, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, pleaded guilty yesterday to bankruptcy fraud, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.  The Gunns were charged by information on January 28, 2016.

According to the plea agreements, the Gunns filed for bankruptcy in May 2011, and

falsely represented in the filed petitions, schedules, and statement of financial affairs the value and transfer of a 1968 Camaro.  The Gunns’ electronic signatures verified the truthfulness of the filed documents under penalty of perjury.  Within the documents, however, the Gunns represented the value of the Camaro as $5,000 and falsely claimed that they held another asset, a 2008 Artic Cat Prowler Utility Task Vehicle (UTV), as “property held for another person.”  In truth, the Gunns had received the UTV, purchased in 2008, for $9,499, in addition to $2,500 cash and construction services, in exchange for the Camaro.  The Camaro later sold at auction for $13,190.  The Gunns admitted in court that they provided the false information with the intent to mislead and conceal assets from the chapter 7 trustee, in order to influence or prevent the trustee from seizing and selling the UTV in the course of the bankruptcy proceedings.

The charge of bankruptcy fraud is punishable by up to five years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.

Sentencing is set for April 12, 2016, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

The case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI).

Today's announcement is part of efforts underway by President Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF), which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.  With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud.  Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations.  Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed more than 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,700 mortgage fraud defendants.