Springfield Real Estate Agent Sentenced to Four Months in Prison for Concealing Assets in a Bankruptcy Proceeding and Making a False Statement to a Bank

SPRINGFIELD, IL—Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Mills today sentenced Darlene M. Adkins, 65, a Springfield, Ill., real estate agent, to a term of four months in federal prison for concealing assets in a bankruptcy proceeding and making a false statement to a bank. Following completion of her prison term, Adkins was ordered to serve five years’ supervised release, with the first five months to be served as home confinement. Adkins was also ordered to pay a fine of $10,000. Judge Mills ordered Adkins to report in early 2012 to a site designated by the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Adkins, of the 1700 block of Iles Ave., pled guilty to the offenses on Mar. 16, 2011. Adkins admitted that on May 15, 2006, she submitted false income information on a loan application to a local bank to increase her home equity line of credit. To influence the bank to approve a $40,000 loan extension, Adkins falsely stated that her gross monthly wages, salary, and commissions were $7,000, when Adkins had no income for February, March, April or May of 2006, and her total income to date for 2006 was $1,610. In a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Petition, filed on May 10, 2006, five days prior to the loan application, Adkins stated that her income to date was $1,610. Adkins further admitted that when she filed the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Petition, she concealed her receipt of $166,884.51, the amount paid by an insurance company to replace the contents of her house which were damaged by fire in June 2005.

The charges resulted from a referral by the U.S. Trustee for Indiana and Central and Southern Illinois (Region 10) and an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in coordination with the Central Illinois Bankruptcy Fraud Working Group. The Bankruptcy Fraud Working Group includes representatives of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois, U.S. Trustee’s Office for Region 10, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Harris prosecuted the case.

The U.S. Trustee Program is the component of the Justice Department that protects the integrity of the bankruptcy system by overseeing case administration and litigating to enforce the bankruptcy laws. Region 10 is headquartered in Indianapolis, with additional offices in South Bend, Ind., and Peoria, Ill.