An Ulster County insurance broker and artist filed records riddled with omissions, a U.S. bankruptcy trustee claims, and he should not be allowed to use bankruptcy to discharge his debts.
The trustee, William K. Harrington, sued Paul Geenty in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Poughkeepsie on July 16 for allegedly failing to explain his finances and making false oaths.
Analysis of Geenty”™s personal and business accounts “calls into question the veracity of the debtor”™s testimony under penalty of perjury,” the complaint states, “and has led to the discovery of undisclosed and undocumented assets, debts, transactions and transfers.”
Geenty”™s bankruptcy attorney, Brian Juran, did not respond to an email asking for his client”™s side of the story.
Geenty, of West Camp, declared $347,425 in assets and $946,266 in liabilities on a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition filed in June 2020.
He showed income of about $23,000 in 2018 but nothing in the following 18 months.
The trustee, whose job is to protect the integrity of the system, claims to have found numerous problems with Geenty”™s case.
For instance, Geenty attested that he was not a sole proprietor of any business, had not used any business names for eight years, and had no legal or financial interest in any business-related property.
But he also declared that he had been self-employed for six years at GIS Professional Insurance Services, and was losing about $4,649 a month from operating a business.
He disclosed one checking account on the original petition, but the trustee says 16 personal and business bank and investments accounts have been identified.
Geenty controlled at least seven bank accounts in GIS”™s name, according to Harrington, to “orchestrate the transfers of millions of dollars” to a personal account.
He allegedly withdrew more than $108,000 from a business account in 934 ATM transactions, for example, for personal expenses in the 18 months before he filed the Chapter 7 petition.
GIS”™s 2019 federal tax return shows $626,154 in receipts and $148,248 in gross profit, but one of its bank accounts shows $950,000 in deposits that year.
His failure to produce “implies that neither he nor GIS has maintained accounting records,” the complaint states, “that would shed light on the disposition of the millions of dollars that flowed through personal and GIS accounts under the debtor”™s control.”
The trustee also tripped up Geenty on another possible source of income. He had denied owning any collectibles of value, such as artwork, in the original petition, and he testified at a creditors meeting that the only website he controlled was for GIS.
What about the two art websites, the trustee asked, that include his name?
Geenty responded that he is an amateur artist, according to the complaint, and he admitted the existence of one site but denied knowledge of the other. Eventually, he admitted that he had sold some artwork through one of the websites and still had eight paintings.
The trustee alleges that there are 35 paintings “of unknown value,” including eight that were marked as sold on a website.
Geenty also stated in the original petition that he had not transferred any property to anyone in the months before he filed for bankruptcy.
Later, he disclosed on an amended form that he had transferred a 2018 Porsche Macon to an individual, but did not explain his relationship to the woman or say how much she paid for the car.
The trustee says Geenty deposited $38,000 from the recipient of the car. But he depicted the transfer as a gift to a friend on a state tax form. To clear up the discrepancy, Geenty”™s lawyer purportedly said the Porsche was listed as a gift on the tax form to minimize taxes and fees.
“This ongoing and pervasive pattern of dishonesty,” the complaint states, “is evidence that the debtor made false statements under penalty of perjury with fraudulent intent and reckless disregard for the truth.”
The millions of dollars that flowed through Geenty”™s business and personal accounts, the trustee argues, “could have been used to pay down personal and business debt.”
