HAMMOND—United States Attorney David Capp announced today that a federal grand jury returned a 36-count superseding indictment charging Jack Weichman, 63, of Dyer, Indiana; Ari Weichman, 35, of Schererville, Indiana; James Schaefer, 65, of Lowell, Indiana; and William Bercaw, 68, of Munster, Indiana with participation in several schemes in violation of federal law. The previous indictment charged nine counts of bank fraud, fourteen counts of bankruptcy fraud, two counts of money laundering, four counts of wire fraud, and five counts of filing false federal income tax returns. The new indictment adds a count of conspiracy to conceal assets in a bankruptcy proceeding, and an additional count of concealment of assets. The new indictment also adds three additional defendants. It charges Ari Weichman, son of defendant Jack Weichman, and James Schafer, Accounting/Tax Manager for the Weichman and Associates accounting firm, in the concealment of assets conspiracy. It also adds William Bercaw, a CPA employed at Weichman and Associates, as a defendant in the wire fraud counts.

The new charge of conspiracy to conceal assets alleges that Jack Weichman conspired with Ari Weichman and James Schafer to conceal assets from the bankruptcy court in an effort to hide Jack Weichman’s true financial condition. The indictment alleges James Schafer filed monthly reports with the bankruptcy court that disguised assets, in the amount of $790,000.00, as business expenses in the form of payments to Ari Weichman as an employee of Weichman and Associates and of MMDS, another Jack Weichman owned and operated medical billing company, when in fact Ari Weichman never worked for either company.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Diane L. Berkowitz and David Nozick.

The United States Attorney’s Office emphasized that an Indictment is merely an allegation and that all persons charged are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

If convicted in court, any specific sentence to be imposed will be determined by the judge after a consideration of federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.