Commercial Fraud

Digital Assets Are Coming to a Bankruptcy Near You

This session will introduce participants to the very hiogh likelihood that digital assets could be a part of a bankruptcy estate given the rapid growth in the use of digital assets to transact business and in the number of people in the United States that own digital assets. Participants will be made aware of the resources, tools, and professional services available to locate, track, quantify, value and recover digital assets for the bankruptcy estate. 1. Participants will gain a working understanding of blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies and other digital assets and their rapid adoption by individuals and businesses.
2. Participants will learn to identify signs that a party may possess digital assets and will be familiar with the resources available to aid in discovering and identifying digital asset ownership.
3. Participants will learn about the techniques and tools available to trace and recover digital asset transactions.
4. Participants will learn the basic issues and challenges in valuing digital assets. Creditor Suggested Speakers Marc Schwartz Mschwartz@schwartzassociates.us Schwartz Associates, LLC

Bankruptcy Fraud: Still a Threat to the Bankruptcy Process

Jan 2025

Imputed Knowledge Kills the Good Faith Defense of a Subsequent Transferee, Circuit Says

Criminal activities of an agent don’t take the agent’s actions outside of the scope of authority.

Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and Bankruptcy

Nov 2024

Wind-Downs and Whistleblowers: Navigating Qui Tam in Bankruptcy

Aug 2024

PPP and similar Litigation: The Pandemic is over. Now, where did all of that money go?

During the Covid Pandemic, the Federal , State and Local governments make billions of dollars in loans to all sizes of business. These programs were rolled out very quickly and the potential for fraud was huge. Now as things shake out, various of the entities that provided the funds are discovering fraud, of all shapes and sizes and bringing suits to recover wrongfully made or fraudulently obtained loans. This session will discuss the various programs, the litigation that is now being pursued by the various "lending sources" and how and when Bankruptcy is being used or implicated by this litigation. This session should address loans made to all size businesses - from the mom and pop business to the multi-million or billion businesses and the various frauds that have been discovered . Attendees will understand the various types of frauds and other issues that have arisen as a result of these "lending" programs being used improperly.
Attendees will understand the various ways in which Bankruptcy can or may be used to either pursue recovery or avoid recovery as a result of the fraud and other improper ways in which these programs were used and abused. Debtor Janet Baer janet_baer@ilnb.uscourts.gov US Bankruptcy Court, ND IL

Co-Chairs’ Corner

We are closing to books on an eventful 2023 and looking forward to a busy 2024. Between the travails of FTX and the numerous lesser frauds, the expertise of our members is in constant demand. This coming year, we plan to host webinars and committee video calls, which will resemble webinars but will be interactive. The plan for the video calls is to have short presentations on topics of interest (10 minutes maximum), followed by a group discussion. Some of our favorite classes this year were seminars rather than lectures.

The Supreme Court Expands the Fraud Exception to Discharge — Maybe

The Supreme Court may have expanded the types of debts that are exempt from discharge under § 523 of the Code. In Bartenwerfer v. Buckley [1], the Court held that § 523 bars the discharge of a debt arising from fraud committed by the debtor’s business partner. While this result appears to be both straightforward and uncontroversial, the broad language used by the Court raises the possibility of expanded objections to dischargeability under § 523.

WORKSHOP: Fraud, Frenzy and the Future: Unmasking Deceit in Complex Bankruptcy Cases

Judge Goldblatt on the Imputation of Fraudulent Intent to a Delaware Corporation

The fraudulent intent of an individual who controls a corporation can be imputed to the corporation itself, even if the board is unaware of fraud.