Dr. Lynn Zoiopoulous Gets 30 Months for Bankruptcy Fraud

ROCKFORD — Dr. Lynn Y. Zoiopoulous, also known as Lynn Shelton-Zoiopoulos, 60, of Chicago, is headed to federal prison for 30 months after pleading guilty to bankruptcy fraud. The former Rockford physician was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Kapala for knowingly filing false statements under penalty of perjury during a Chapter Seven bankruptcy proceeding she initiated in 2009.

Zoiopoulous admitted in her plea agreement that she concealed a substantial interest in her deceased grandmother’s estate — a financial stake she actively hid to defraud the bankruptcy trustee. The scheme allowed her to dodge repayment obligations while she siphoned off hundreds of thousands in estate funds. She was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $858,765.68 and will serve six months under court supervision upon release.

Appointed executor of her grandmother’s estate in 2001, Zoiopoulous opened a dedicated estate account that swelled to $855,178 by May 2006. In October 2008, she diverted $550,000 from that account to purchase an annuity — then later embezzled every dollar from the contract. Between June 2008 and November 2012, she systematically looted the estate, converting its assets for personal use in direct violation of her fiduciary duty.

With cold calculation, Zoiopoulous avoided filing legally required reports — no inventory, no accounting, no tax returns, no status updates. The paper trail went cold, but not because the estate was inactive. It was because she was draining it. As the estate’s sole administrator, her silence was not oversight — it was concealment.

To further mask her theft, Zoiopoulous sent $35,000 to her sister, packaging it as a legitimate distribution. She included a letter claiming the remaining funds had been reinvested. In reality, the money was long gone — stolen, spent, hidden. The letter wasn’t an update; it was a decoy, designed to stop suspicion before it started.

The sentencing was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Michael J. Anderson. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael D. Love and Margaret J. Schneider prosecuted the case. Zoiopoulous must surrender to federal authorities on January 27, 2017, to begin serving her sentence.