IN RE JOHNSON
United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Maryland, Baltimore Division.
Filed: October 19, 2012.
29. Mancini told Ms. Johnson that he was an attorney.
30. Ms. Johnson believed that Mancini was an attorney.
31. Ms. Johnson paid Mancini $400 to assist her with the preparation and filing of her bankruptcy case.
32. Ms. Johnson believed that in exchange for her payment, she had hired Mancini as her bankruptcy attorney and to represent her in her bankruptcy case.
33. Mancini also told Ms. Johnson that for an additional fee of approximately $400 Mancini would attend and represent Ms. Johnson as her attorney at Ms. Johnson's meeting of creditors.
34. In order to save money, Ms. Johnson chose not to pay Mancini the additional $400.
35. On March 15, 2012, with the Defendants' assistance, Ms. Johnson filed a voluntary petition under chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code commencing a bankruptcy case in this Court docketed as In re Linda D. Johnson, Case No. 12-14808.
1. Congress has provided that "[t]he United States trustee may raise and may appear and be heard on any issue in any case or proceeding" under Title 11 of the United States Code (the "Bankruptcy Code"). 11 U.S.C. § 307. Additionally, various paragraphs of § 110 of the Bankruptcy Code specifically provide that the United State Trustee may bring actions to redress the misconduct alleged in this case. See, e.g., 11 U.S.C. §§ 110(i)(1), 110(J)(1).
2. The term "debtor" is defined by the Bankruptcy Code as a "person ... concerning which a case under [the Bankruptcy Code] has been commenced." 11 U.S.C. § 101(13). For purposes of these Findings, the Court applies that same definition.
3. At the hearing on this matter, the Assistant United States Trustee testified that Mancini admitted to him that the social security number listed on these documents was not Mancini's social security number but that Mancini claimed the numbers were tax identification numbers assigned to him or his businesses. However, the Assistant United States Trustee also testified that his own investigation indicated that the numbers were actually social security numbers issued to individuals living outside of Maryland. There was no evidence presented as to the identity of these individuals or that these individuals were aware that Mancini had used their social security numbers.