IN RE JOHNSON
United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Maryland, Baltimore Division.
Filed: October 19, 2012.
45. By Order entered May 4, 2012, the Court granted Ms. Johnson's Motion to Reconsider and reinstated her case [Docket No. 18].
46. The Court finds that the Defendants' conduct and practices in connection with Ms. Johnson's case are generally typical of the Defendants' conduct and practices in those cases they prepared between February and July of 2012.
Other Cases47. At the hearing on this matter, the United States Trustee identified 53 cases in addition to Ms. Johnson's in which the Defendants prepared documents for filing in this Court and provided other assistance to debtors in connection with their bankruptcy cases.
48. In 44 of these cases, the Defendants falsely identified Mancini as A. Michael Scalia.
49. In 9 of the cases, the Defendants used Mancini's true legal name of Michael Mancini.
50. In all 53 cases, the Defendants used a false social security number in their disclosures.
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.