David Speckman, Bankruptcy Fraud, California 2024

California attorney David Speckman has been sanctioned by the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California for his involvement in schemes to acquire his clients' homes.

The court entered a stipulated judgment on February 20, permanently barring Speckman from representing clients in bankruptcy cases in the district. Speckman also agreed to pay a fine of $3,500 in the stipulated judgment, which resolved an adversary complaint by the U.S. Trustee's San Diego office.

According to the stipulation, Speckman failed to disclose property transfers and other transactions involving his clients and Prado Investments LLC, a company owned by Speckman's wife. Among other things, Speckman drafted agreements for two debtor clients to sell their homes to Prado during their chapter 13 bankruptcies without seeking court authorization and filed several false and misleading documents with the court that failed to disclose the transfers.

In another chapter 13 case, Speckman failed to list his client's debt to Prado and failed to identify Prado as the junior lienholder on the debtor's home. Speckman agreed that his conduct violated the Bankruptcy Code, federal and local rules of bankruptcy procedure, and California attorney ethical rules.

The U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) is responsible for promoting the integrity and efficiency of the bankruptcy system for the benefit of all stakeholders – debtors, creditors, and the public. The USTP consists of 21 regions with 89 field offices nationwide and an Executive Office in Washington, D.C.

“Consumers who have fallen on hard times rely on their attorneys to help navigate the way to a fresh start,” said Director Tara Twomey of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees. “Attorneys who abuse this trust for their own gain have no place in bankruptcy court.”

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/us-trustee-program-obtains-sanctions-against-consumer-bankruptcy-attorneys-involved-real