Man Charged for $450,000 Debt

A New Jersey man has done more than his part to help push U.S. credit card debt to an all-time high, racking up nearly half a million dollars in charges on more than 20 cards in the course of a year, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Ibrahim Elwahsh, 36, a temporary worker with a $25,000 annual income, charged up a storm during a 1995-96 spending spree totaling some $450,000 including cash advances, gift certificates and more than 50 round-trip airline tickets, which he either used or sold, Assistant U.S. Atty. Donna Gallucio said.

Elwahsh, of Clifton, N.J., then tried to pay the stratospheric balances owed to American Express, Diners Club, Sears and other companies with bad checks, Gallucio said in U.S. District Court, where Elwahsh pleaded guilty to one count of bankruptcy fraud.

Elwahsh declared bankruptcy in September 1996 to try to wipe out his debt. He faces five years in federal prison, and possibly even more debt. When sentenced on May 21, he could get a maximum $250,000 fine as well as an order of restitution to pay back the credit card companies he duped.

Will he be able to pay? “I have no idea,” Gallucio said.

American credit card debt reached $8,000 per average household in December, an all-time high, according to InCharge Institute, the country’s biggest nonprofit credit card counseling service.

According to the Federal Reserve Board, consumer debt at the end of November totaled $1.52 trillion, including credit card, auto loans and other types of consumer borrowing. That was nearly twice the amount of a decade ago, the Fed said.