Businessman Pleads Guilty to Bankruptcy Fraud

A former Sherman Oaks businessman pleaded guilty Monday in a bankruptcy fraud case that began when he was accused of secreting $1.7 million in a bank account to avoid paying creditors, including his former wife.

During a hearing in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Robert David Masket, 47, pleaded guilty to making a false declaration under penalty of perjury in his bankruptcy case, knowingly and fraudulently concealing a bank account from the bankruptcy estate and lying under oath during bankruptcy proceedings.

He could face a maximum of three years in federal prison and $750,000 in fines at his sentencing, scheduled for Sept. 13.

“By pleading guilty, he is accepting responsibility and expresses remorse for his conduct,” Masket’s defense lawyer, Brian Hennigan, said Tuesday. He added that Masket, who owned and managed commercial property for a living, intends to pay off all his debts.

Masket, who became a fugitive in January 1995 until his December arrest in Mexico, is being held in a federal holding facility in downtown Los Angeles.

According to Assistant U.S. Atty. Angela J. Davis, Masket filed for bankruptcy in early 1994. In papers filed with his bankruptcy petition, he reported assets including more than $6 million in Los Angeles-area real estate, a $1-million business partnership, a 41-foot fishing boat worth $290,000 and $250 in a checking account.

But no mention was made of an account he had opened three months earlier at the Los Angeles branch of the Credit Suisse of Zurich, Davis said. An informant alerted the bankruptcy case trustee to the existence of the Credit Suisse account.