Dallas Woman Faces Up To 15 Years In Federal Prison After Jury Finds She Lied In Bankruptcy Filings

DALLAS — Following a two-day trial before U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay, a federal jury has convicted a Dallas woman on three felony offenses stemming from bankruptcy petitions she filed, announced John Parker, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Julie Grant, a/k/a Juliana Jacobs Grant, Juliana Okwue Jacobs Grant and Juliana Okwuenu, 49, was convicted on three counts of making false statements under penalty of perjury. Each count carries a maximum statutory penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Grant, who was placed on electronic monitoring, is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Lindsay on September 21, 2015.

Grant, using two different Social Security Numbers, filed voluntary bankruptcy petitions on October 3, 2008, March 2, 2009, July 6, 2009, December 16, 2009, and August 9, 2011. In some of the petitions, Grant was represented by counsel, and in some, she acted pro se (without counsel.)

The government presented evidence that in the August 9, 2011, petition, Grant fraudulently concealed two bankruptcy cases she filed in the Northern District of Texas in October 2008 and March 2009. Grant also falsely stated in the December 16, 2009, petition and the August 9, 2011, petition, that she had only used one Social Security Number, when, in fact, she had used at least one other Social Security Number in other bankruptcy petitions that she knew she was obligated to disclose.

This case is one of several felony prosecutions of bankruptcy-related crimes generated by the recent Bankruptcy Fraud Initiative within the Northern District of Texas. As an example, in late January 2015, a Waxahachie, Texas, man, James Derek Howard, was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison and was ordered to pay restitution after he pleaded guilty to a bankruptcy fraud offense.

Since May 2013, nine debtors have been charged in the district with various felony offenses, and to date, seven of these defendants have been convicted. One defendant is awaiting trial and one defendant remains a fugitive.

The Office of the Inspector General, Social Security Administration investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Jarvis prosecuted.