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Press Release

Bergen County Man Admits Bankruptcy Fraud

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey

NEWARK N.J. – A Bergen County, New Jersey, man today admitted concealing assets from a bankruptcy trustee, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced. 

Victor Osorio, 53, of Creskill, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty to an information charging him with one count of bankruptcy fraud.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On Feb. 16, 2017, Osorio filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. In his petition and accompanying Schedules of Assets and Liabilities, Osorio declared that he did not have an ownership interest in any incorporated or unincorporated businesses. In so doing, Osorio failed to disclose that he had an ownership interest in both Business-1 and Business-2. Approximately seven months earlier, Osorio had filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition for Business-1, in which he declared that he was Business-1’s sole owner. Osorio also declared that he did not own or have an interest in any checking, savings, or other financial accounts, failing to disclose a bank account in the Dominican Republic in which he had an interest.

In connection with the petition, on Feb. 24, 2017, Osorio filed amended Schedules of Assets and Liabilities, which disclosed a partial ownership interest in Business-1. That declaration was inconsistent with information contained in Business-1’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, in which Osorio declared that he was the sole owner of Business-1. The amended schedules also failed to disclose Osorio’s ownership interest in Business-2 and the bank account in the Dominican Republic. 

The bankruptcy fraud charge carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. Sentencing is scheduled for June 28, 2021. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of Homeland Security Investigations and detectives of the New York City Police Department assigned to HSI’s Border Security Enforcement Task Force, under the direction of HSI Special Agent in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh in New York, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dara Govan, Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Government Fraud Unit in Newark and Assistant U.S. Attorney Samantha C. Fasanello of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Newark.

Updated February 4, 2021

Attachment
Topics
Bankruptcy
Financial Fraud
Press Release Number: 21-047