• 24
  • June
    2011

In our previous post, we wrote about Tennessee-born rapper Young Buck and the current investigation into whether he has been hiding income from the bankruptcy trustee overseeing his Chapter 13 filing. As we noted in that post, bankruptcy trustees are responsible for receiving the debtor's monthly payments and distributing them to creditors, and for ensuring that the interests of all parties are protected.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported another interesting case of hiding assets from a bankruptcy trustee. The bankruptcy trustee in charge of winding down Barry Stokes's business is reportedly still searching for 80 of roughly 2,000 pieces of Japanese art formerly owned by the former business owner and convicted felon.

Stokes-who was convicted in 2008 of embezzling $19 million from retirement plan funds-had apparently stashed the artwork in hopes of having a source of funds for himself once he was released from prison. Stokes, however, passed away last August and that artwork has yet to be found.

Prior to his arrest and conviction, Stokes was the owner of 1Point Solutions, a employee benefits management firm. He died last December in a prison hospital, only a couple years into his 12½ year sentence.

Most of Stokes' artwork was reportedly being kept by his third wife, the bankruptcy trustee is unable to locate roughly 80 pieces. The value of those 80 pieces of art isn't known. Sources said, however, that Stokes' business owes over $30 million to creditors.

Source: Wall Street Journal, "Dead Felon May Have Hidden Art from Bankruptcy Trustee," 20 June 2011