Russell Geyer, Bankruptcy Fraud, Virginia 2020

A Saltville man who faked his own death to dodge federal bankruptcy proceedings has been sentenced to 108 months in prison. Russell Geyer, 50, admitted to a sprawling fraud scheme that included lying about life-threatening illnesses, forging his wife’s voice, and impersonating a Florida attorney to steal from his own family and deceive the court.

Geyer pleaded guilty in May 2020 in U.S. District Court in Abingdon to one count of contempt of court, one count of bankruptcy fraud, one count of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity fraud. The sentencing, handed down yesterday, marks the end of a brazen deception that unraveled in court when his wife stood before the judge and declared he was very much alive.

Court records show Geyer fabricated a litany of fake medical conditions — including prostate cancer, bone cancer, cardiac issues, a brain aneurysm, and pneumonia — to delay proceedings and conceal assets. On August 30, 2019, he escalated the fraud by sending an email to his own attorney, posing as his wife, claiming he had died. The ruse collapsed during a September 5, 2019 hearing when Mrs. Geyer testified that neither she nor her husband had been hospitalized and that the claims were outright lies.

Even more audacious was Geyer’s impersonation of a real Florida attorney, whose name and credentials he stole to send a threatening email claiming he had taken control of Geyer’s assets and told him to kill himself. The Florida attorney had no connection to the case. Geyer created a fake email account and used a voice-masking app to pose as the lawyer, deceiving his wife into sending him $70,000 in attorney fees for a nonexistent $1 million settlement.

The fraud didn’t stop at the courtroom door. Geyer’s manipulation of federal bankruptcy procedures and deliberate contempt of court undermined the entire process, forcing prosecutors to untangle a web of lies built on fake diagnoses, forged communications, and stolen identity. His actions not only defrauded creditors but also mocked the judicial system.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Randy Ramseyer. Geyer now faces nine years behind bars — a sentence that reflects the severity of his calculated betrayal of trust, law, and truth.

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