Imprisoned Dutchess County fraudster Bradley C. Reifler has been ordered to pay $8.9 million to his bankruptcy estate for diverting funds from family trust funds.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia G. Morris issued a default judgment on April 1, based on Reifler’s failure to defend himself against charges brought by a U.S. bankruptcy trustee.
Reifler, 64, had petitioned for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in 2017, claiming $5 million in assets and $43 million in liabilities.
Trustee Marianne T. O’Toole accused him in 2019 of moving $10.6 million in and out of his children’s trust accounts and illegally funneling funds to himself, his wife and his mother.
The lawsuit also named his family members as defendants, arguing that they were complicit in fraudulent activity.
On Jan. 3, Judge Morris approved a settlement in which Reifler’s children, wife and mother agreed to pay $220,000 to the bankruptcy trustee, and the trustee agreed to drop charges.
Reifler has traded commodities, derivatives and fixed-income investments, and run an investment banking and wealth management firm.
Over the years he cultivated a reputation as a charismatic master salesman and as a free-spender who lived a lavish lifestyle.
He spent a decade and $8 million, for instance, renovating his horse farm in Millbrook.
In 2022, he pled guilty to defrauding North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co., the oldest black-owned insurance company in the U.S.
He was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay back $20.3 million.
Reifler is imprisoned at the medium security federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He is scheduled for release in November 2025.
