A Milwaukee real estate mogul hid more than $7 million in assets by using a series of shell companies to evade creditors, a federal grand jury said in a 16-count indictment.
Todd Brunner and his son Shawn face charges of bank and bankruptcy fraud after investigators revealed millions in real estate property, bank accounts, cars and even powerboats were shifted to Shawn and a network of shell companies, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.
According to Tuesday’s indictment, Brunner instructed his son, a college student, to organize the fake firms while quietly taking assets out of his own name and transferring them to the shell companies as creditors closed in.
A lawyer later pushed Brunner to return the properties to his name when he declared bankruptcy, the Journal-Sentinel said.
Brunner amassed millions by buying, renovating and renting foreclosed properties, but filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2011 in the face of a $20 million debt.
A judge rejected Brunner’s bankruptcy case in 2012 after discovering he had failed to disclose assets to the court.
The Journal-Sentinel said Brunner, who owes $880,000 in back property taxes, once owned a fleet of upscale cars, boats and motorcycles.
But the businessman lost all but three dozen of his properties to foreclosures in the years since his bankruptcy case, including his own home, which he now rents back from the bank.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general, the FBI and the Milwaukee Police Department launched the investigation that yielded the charges against Brunner in 2012.
The HUD IG circulated a link to the Journal-Sentinel’s story Friday.
