Andrew Welch of Idaho pleaded guilty to knowingly and fraudulently concealing assets in a bankruptcy proceeding and agreed to immediately forfeit $25,000 to the U.S., Idaho State Journal reported. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pocatello on Aug. 27, 2019. Sentencing is set for Oct. 14, 2020. According to court records, Welch, a former pharmacist, filed a voluntary chapter 7 petition and supporting documents on April 3, 2014, and listed general unsecured debts totaling $273,840.88. Welch, however, signed the petition and supporting documents under the penalty of perjury, falsely stating he did not own any real property and that he only had personal property worth $13,564.60. He knowingly and fraudulently failed to disclose in the bankruptcy petition and supporting documents the transfer of more than $250,000 of his own funds to an investment account held in the name of another individual. Those transfers occurred through cashier’s checks, cash deposits, wire transfers and money orders between September 2012 and January 2015, and Welch made all the transfers to conceal such funds. Welch faces up to five years in federal prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and one year of supervised release. This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.
