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Bankruptcy
Evidence Ignored
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An
Unjust Justice
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Assistant
U.S. Trustee Antonia Darling
Eastern
District
California
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Assistant
U.S. Trustee Antonia Darling told Chief Judge John McManus
in court about a crime victim:
"I
reviewed that criminal complaint against John Roberts and
determined there was nothing to it (the victim) just
files complaints."
With
that one statement made while flipping her hand in a dismissive
jester at the victim, Darling prevented one of her trustee's
under her watch, from accountability.
WJFA
presents the evidence and asks our readers to decide if "there
is nothing to the criminal complaint.
Also
see the ATP story
where those victims also gave Darling evidence exposing corporate
and government fraud. Darling did nothing, again.
Top
Gun
For
prosecutors, having the proverbial"smoking gun" is
as close to perfection as it gets. The smoking gun is irrefutable
evidence of the crime and who committed it.
This
story is about all the Smoking Guns given to the U.S. Trustee
in Sacramento, California, and yet, none of the victims or
witnesses have ever been contacted, nor was justice ever
provided. In all those cases, a bankruptcy trustee was involved
in the incidents.
The
U.S. Trustee is a division of the Department of Justice in
charge of policing the bankruptcy system from criminals preying
on people and business. Every federal court has a U.S. Trustee's
office. They are the Top Gun in that system. Think of them
like the U.S. Marshall.
Corporations
or people commit fraud and then wash their hands of their
crime in the bankruptcy system. The victims are left powerless
and without closure. The top guns are supposed to make sure
that does not happen. Yet, too many people across the country
report being victimized and then their evidence just goes
into a black hole, because the U.S. Trustee's appear to be
more interested in their "No crime record," then
actually providing justice.
Justice
Delayed is Justice Denied
How
could Antonia Darling examine the evidence in the criminal
complaint and determine as she said, that no crime occurred?
The
evidence includes bank records, tax returns, stock accounts,
property transactions, court documents, letters, etc, and
the smoking gun: a fraudulent bankruptcy filed to fraud taxpayers,
creditors, and the victims.
The
Smoking Gun is about Rob and LaVerne and their caregivers,
Kathy and Paul Fox and what happened to their daughter that
tried to protect them. The heirs of Rob and LaVerne say the
Foxes frauded them out of their inheritance, frauded the
taxpayers, and that the parents final years were about abuse,
neglect, and fraud.
The
family says that bankruptcy was the Smoking
Gun of the Foxes intent and conspiracy to commit
a crime and that they deliberately concealed it knowing revealing
it would expose Al
Seastrand had committed three felony crimes
by stealing Rob and LaVerne's daughter's home, twice. The
fraud so massive, so deep, that the Foxes and Seastrand should
have gone to prison.
 Why
did Darling provide so many conflicting versions about her
involvement?
Did
Darling actually investigate, or, was she lying to Judge
McManus to get a favorable ruling?
If
Darling had made that determination, then why did she fail
and refuse to comply her division's policy and procedures
for notification to the victims?
Why
were the Foxes allowed to file a personal bankruptcy against
the victims to stop the victims from pursuing civil remedies
to undo the crimes against them?
Why
did then Darling use the Smoking Gun to help Al Seastrand commit
another crime against the victim?
Why
in a memo to a non-government person, did Darling refer
to the victim as "paranoid" while concealing
from that person that Darling had the Smoking Gun evidence?
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Explore
Related Pages
Others
that came to this page, also found the following pages helpful:
An
insight on the many ways some unscrupulous bankruptcy trustees
victimize debtors in the bankruptcy system.
American
Traveler Press
The American
Traveler Press injustice, took on epic proportions for its
victims, who lost their homes and business. UST Antonia Darling,
turned a blind eye to ATP washing its crime away in the bankruptcy
system.
 WJFA's
volunteers have a bevy of tips to help you including a section
on how to sue a bankruptcy trustee. If you need a support
group , go here.
eToys
bankruptcy
This
story has it all: corporate greed, fraud, bankruptcy fraud,
and shareholders' cry for justice falling on deaf ears. Yet,
top officials in the bankruptcy system fled their jobs.
WJFA
has numerous pages with example letters showing you how to
work with the credit reporting bureaus to repair your credit
report, especially after a fraud.
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Some
Call it Retaliation
The
fraudulent bankruptcy that the victims say is the Smoking
Gun that felony crimes occurred, and has never
been acted on by Darling's office. Instead, Darling used
the Smoking Gun to set in motion actions that helped Al
Seastrand commit his next fraud against Rob and LaVerne's
daughter. Seastrand had been preying on her since 1993,
while telling her she needs to be taught a lesson.
"It's
like Darling took a banned assault weapon that was part
of a crime and then gave it back to the criminal with full
knowledge of his intent to use it on his victim," said
Malcolm Jennings, Rob's good friend. "When the victim
tried to stop the crime, Darling went after her like a
mad dog on crack accusing her of abusing the system and
telling the judge that the victim needed to be taught a
lesson or she won't have learned a lesson! We all just
sat there with our jaws dropped to the floor."
A
Fox in the Hen House
In
1993, Kathy and Paul Fox, made themselves caregivers of Rob
and LaVerne while shutting their kids out. Authorities refused
to respond to the kids' pleas for help.
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Kathy & Paul
Fox
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According
to Adult Protective Services and District Attorneys around
the country, cutting a victim off from their family and
friends is a common tactic and people should be aware this
is the red flag of fraud and abuse.
Before
the family could say 'what's going on?' Kathy Fox
and her husband, Paul Fox, had created homemade Power of
Attorney documents giving themselves control of the elderly
couple's checking, stock, and other accounts. They also made
homemade codicils to undue the family trust and wills that
their attorneys had made.
The
Foxes' documents had no attorney, no notary, and no impartial
witnesses. One of the Power of Attorney documents had LaVerne’s
purported signature on March 31, 1993, but the witnesses’ signatures
dated April 9, 1993, and they were Fox’s family and
friends.
The
Foxes then secretly sold the couple's home to the Foxes'
nephew, Ed Root for $60,000 under market value. The Foxes
walked away with $100,000 cash from the sale. The Foxes then
moved the elderly couple into a small mobile home on the
back of their property in El Dorado County, and had their
cousin, Corky Barnett, as caregiver.
Years
later, a court-ordered
accounting showed the Foxes' extensive fraud:
Credit Card Companies, Lenders, IRS, FTB, Medi-Cal, Social
Security, insurance companies, taxpayers, and the daughter
by bringing in their friend or associate, Al Seastrand to
tie her up in knots, first with two thefts of the daughter's
home, and then later extortion schemes.
The
family says they are still stunned at how easy it was for the
Foxes to dupe the parents' doctors, social workers, and other
government agencies.
 "Mom
kept telling us that they were taking everything," Kirk
said. "When I confronted Kathy, she was all sweet telling
me how she and Paul were just protecting mom and dad from
the government. I feel so stupid now for trusting them."
The
family says that the whole time they were questioning the
Foxes' actions, they had no idea that the Foxes had created
the home-made power of attorney documents and had been liquidating
the assets while telling the children that nothing was going
on.
"It
was clear the parents did not know about the power of attorney
or the liquidating of assets," Clyde said. "They
kept asking us to help because of the Foxes were taking their
things. Hell, they told court staff they wanted to get away
from the Foxes."
The
whole time the Foxes were telling the family that they were
trying to protect the victims from the government, they would
tell government officials that they were trying to protect
the parents from the children. It was the Perfect
Crime.
The
Smoking Gun
Unbeknownst
to the family, on April 26, 1994, Kathy Fox filed a fraudulent
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in the Rob and LaVerne's name to eliminate
charge card and loan debts. One of those was the loan secured
against the victim's home. Fox then put Rob and LaVerne on
Medi-Cal as paupers, when their actual assets were near a half
million dollars.
That
bankruptcy is the Smoking
Gun that the Foxes and Al Seastrand committed
several felony crimes.
Fox
omitted the daughter from the notification list. Even though
Fox listed her as a joint property owner with the parents,
neither bankruptcy trustee John Roberts, nor bankruptcy judge
Jane McKeag performed their legal requirement of do diligence
in ensuring that the victim was notified of Fox's action.
That
bankruptcy filing dumped an $85,000 loan on the victim and
she was denied do process of the law to dispute the action
or protect herself from the fraud.
"The
Foxes pulled off the perfect crime, not because they're smart,
but because it was too easy for them to dupe people who are
paid to provide justice," Kirk said. "Every time
Uncle Sam called my dad to put himself in harms' way, my dad
answered that call to duty. He devoted 40 years of his life
for this country, but this country turned its back on him and
on his family. The system deliberately failed us and it has
allowed Al Seastrand to prey on my sister."
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Obstruction
of Justice
The
family spent five years and over $40,000 chasing after the
Foxes to ascertain what happened to the parents' estate and
to get the parents away from the Foxes' control.
In
1997, the El Dorado County Probate Court ordered that the
Foxes provide an accounting of what happened to the estate.
A forensic accounting revealed the massive fraud the Foxes
committed against the family. (See court
ordered accounting)
The
family gave the evidence to Darling showing the court-ordered
accounting showed bankruptcy was a filed with intent to fraud
creditors, taxpayers, and the daughter. The complaint also
contained evidence of how the trustee became the Foxes lawyer
and in doing so frauded the creditors and the victim by helping
the Foxes conceal the bankruptcy. Criminal
Complaint.
The
Foxes had transferred the assets to Florida, filed a personal
bankruptcy in California to wash their hands of their crimes
against the family and then fled the state.
The
Predator
In
March 2000, under pressure from the civil court judge, the
victim bought her peace by agreeing to pay Al Seastrand to
get off title to her home and go away for good and leave
her alone. Seastrand and his attorney Matthew Eason assured
the judge Seastrand was done.
"My
stomach was in knots as Al Seastrand's attorney Matthew Eason
stood there telling sis and her attorney that Seastrand wanted
peace and if sis would just pay him, he would go away," Malcolm
said. "I kept saying don't do it, but Eason kept assuring
us, giving us his word, it would all be over if we just make
a deal with Seastrand. It didn't make sense that after nine
years of telling sis she needs to be taught a lesson that
Seastrand would suddenly let go and go away, but sis' attorney
told her the judge would be mad if she didn't do the deal."
 The
victim says it was a bitter pill to swallow to pay Seastrand "for
successfully getting away with the crimes of stealing my
home, twice."
The
ink hadn't even dried on that peace agreement when Seastrand
filed another fraudulent foreclosure against the victim to
get her home, while telling her she needed to be taught a
lesson.
Once
again the victim was forced to pay the extortion demand to
stop Seastrand. As the victim and her attorney were trying
to stop Seastrand, he, John Roberts, and Antonia Darling,
were in the background secretly reopening the Smoking Gun
for Seastrand, so he could begin his next fraud against the
victim.
The
day after the victim paid the extortion demand and stopped
Seastrand's foreclosure, that a civil court judge later ruled
was fraud for the intent of harassing the victim, the victim
received a shocking letter from John Roberts. A new level
hell was coming down on her. Once again, the victim never
got one day's peace. As soon as she resolved one fraud, the
same day or next day and new one started. This was her life
for 13 years.
 Roberts
letter stated he was reopened the Smoking Gun to sell a newly
discovered asset to Seastrand. The victim dropped to floor
and sat there with her arms around her legs and her head
on her knees, sobbing uncontrollably for over an hour. (See
the Roberts letter in the complaint)
The
next day the victim went to the federal courthouse to ascertain
how Roberts could do this to her especially when she had
filed criminal complaint against him and the Foxes. She paid
for a copy of the motion used to reopen the case. She was
going to take the copies to Antonia Darling's office to inform
her that Roberts was at it again.
"I
was sitting there lifeless staring at the motion" the
victim said. "I was confused, scared, and didn't know
what to do. I remember just feeling numb and not understanding
how or why this could be happening."
The
shock was that it wasn't John Roberts, but Antonia Darling,
that prepared and filed the motion to reopen the bankruptcy
that the family provided evidence was part of a crime. In
Darling's motion, she asked for and received that John Roberts
be appointed the trustee of the bankruptcy.
The
Darling Factor
Darling's
motion contains vague generalities, unsubstantiated
claims, and states an informant told her about the asset,
but Darling failed and refused to identify the alleged
informant. The unnamed informant would be the first of
Darling's conflicting and inconsistent statements about
this motion.
The
victim asked the FBI where to go for help. They told the
victim to give the evidence to Darling's superior, Linda
Eckstrom Stanley. The victim did, but Darling responded,
essentially telling her to go pound dirt. The victim responded
by writing to Stanley, but still, Darling responded. After
numerous such letters, Darling finally revealed that the
secret informant in her motion was John
Roberts.
The
victim's attorney pleaded with Darling to stop and investigate
the crimes. Darling refused and the plan moved forward.
See
the attorney's
letter to Darling spelling out all the legal
reasons why what she and Roberts were doing was illegal.
He provided case law. Also pointed out Roberts’ suspect
behavior. Called on Darling to do her job and investigate.
This exhibit also includes a response from Antonia Darling
saying it is not her jurisdiction and take it up with the
bankruptcy judge.
Darling
then replaced Roberts with Prem Dhawan as the bankruptcy
trustee. See the victim's
letter to trustee Prem Dhawan’s attorney
pointing out the obvious that the law requires original documents
and given they didn't have any, their actions were not legal.
Dhawan and his attorney refused to respond or stop and Darling
refused to stop them.
Was
it a White-Wash?
Years
later, the victim acquired a memo from Darling to Prem Dhawan,
wherein, Darling directs Dhawan to "straighten out this
mess."
In
that memo, Darling refers to the victim as paranoid and probably
guilty of some scam and also points out that Seastrand has
a known history as a scam artist. (See Darling's
directive to Dhawan, page 5)
Why
would Darling put a crime investigation in the hands of a
bankruptcy trustee, who is nothing more than a contract employee
with no authority to act on behalf of the government or let
alone investigate a crime?
Dhawan
is depended upon Darling's good will for his contracts with
the bankruptcy court. What message was he to derive from
Darling's memo dismissing and demeaning the victim while
concealing the fact that the family had given Darling evidence
that a crime had occurred.
Why
did Darling conceal the criminal complaint from Prem Dhawan?
U.S.
Trustee's Policy and Procedure
The
U.S. Department of Justice policy 5-1.2.1 United States Trustee,
[28U.S.C. ß 586(a)(3)(F)] states:
"The United States Trustee has
the duty of notifying the appropriate United States attorney
of matters which relate to the occurrence of any action which
may constitute a crime under the laws of the United States
and, on the request of the United States Attorney, assisting
the United States Attorney in carrying out prosecutions based
on such action. It is noteworthy that this section encompasses
any crime, not just bankruptcy crimes, and imposes a duty
to assist, as well as to report evidence of crimes.”
Why
didn't Darling follow regulation and her duty as an officer
of the court to report these crimes to the US Attorney? The
victim's attorney sent Darling the relevant laws to help
Darling recognize this was a crime. Yet, she choose to not
follow her division's directive.
In
June 2001, bankruptcy court judge Jane McKeag told the victim
the bankruptcy court didn't concern itself with legal issues
because they have an asset (even though they legally, factually,
and technically did not) and a willing buyer (Al Seastrand)
they sold the phantom asset from the fraudulent bankruptcy
to Al Seastrand.
Judge
McKeag was the same judge that approved the Smoking Gun bankruptcy
for Kathy Fox and then later approved the Foxes personal
bankruptcy allowing them to wash their dirty hands of the
crime, thereby, preventing the victims from recovering the
stolen assets.
In
December 2001, days away from Seastrand taking the victim's
home, her attorney had her file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy,
to stop Seastrand from stealing her home.
Matthew
Eason was back as Al Seastrand's attorney
filing a plethora of motions to prevent the victim's
Chapter 13 from being approved. Eason's motions were
on behalf a bogus corporation called "United Fiduciary
Services, Inc," listing a faceless person named
Jim Harris as the agent. No address, no telephone number,
just "c/o Matthew Eason's law firm." Eason
and Seastrand kept the victim tied up in knots for over
two years trying to knock her out of the bankruptcy system.
According
to California State Secretary's records of corporations operating
in California, United Fiduciary Services, Inc. has never
existed. Neither Eason nor Seastrand have provided an explanation
why Eason filed claims for money using a phony company. Equally, A.
U.S.T. Antonia Darling has failed and refused
to hold the two accountable for filing a false claim, and
for operating under a bogus corporation, and lying under
oath.
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Lender
Muddies the Water
In
July 2003, unbeknownst to the victim, American River HealthPro
Credit Union, filed a lawsuit to stop Al Seastrand. The court
shot down the request citing the credit union was not the injured
party.
On
August 7, 2003, as Bankruptcy Judge Michael McManus conducted
a hearing to issue a restraining order to stop Al Seastrand's
foreclosure, Eason and Seastrand were a no show. After presentation
of the evidence, the judge issued the injunction. (See injunction
to stop Seastrand)
The
next day Eason told told the victim the restraining order didn't
matter because the credit union (who had a mortgage against
her home) secretly paid Al Seastrand to stop his foreclosure
against himself.
The
lender later notified the victim that they had put that amount
onto her existing loan along with their legal costs but refused
to disclose what was paid and when or what the alleged legal
costs. They then filed foreclosure against her.
Under
threat of pay or lose your home, the victim was stuck with
yet another fraud to pay. This time $80,000 more bringing the
fraud total from all the crimes to over $200,000.
She
Needs to be Taught a Lesson
A
broken down and battle-fatigued victim could hardly function.
Her attorney had her change her Chapter 13 to a Chapter 7 to
clean the slate and try to rebuild her life. The bankruptcy
court appointed John Roberts as her trustee. The victim's attorney
asked Roberts to resign. Roberts refused. The attorney asked
Darling to make Roberts resign. Darling refused. The victim
filed a motion to have Roberts dismissed. (See motion
for dismissal of trustee, which contains the Darling
and Roberts letters refusing to resign.
A
few days later, Darling filed an enforcement action against
the victim accusing her of abusing the system when she tried
to stop Al Seastrand's crimes. Darling and the victim's attorney
tried to get the victim to sign a plea agreement.
"My
attorney bailed on me," the victim said. "He just
threw me to the wolves. He missed the deadline to file an answer
to Darling's allegations. I had to be a quick learn on how
to be my own defense attorney. The whole time I was in shock
and disbelief this was happening. I was stressed and scared
out of my mind. I couldn't find an attorney to help me. Everyone
kept saying, 'what did you do to piss off the 800-lb gorilla?'
Then they tell me to lie down and play dead to survive."
On
the day of the hearing to dismiss Roberts, Antonia Darling
walked into the courtroom and got the victim's motion dismissed
by saying:
"I
reviewed the complaint against Roberts and determined there
was nothing to it," Darling said. "Ms. -------- just
files complaints."
With
that one sentence, Darling was able to get the judge to dismiss
the motion to have a bankruptcy trustee removed.
On
June 3, 2004, Darling's trial against the victim concluded.
In Darling's closing argument, she urged the judge to punish
the victim, "or she won't have learned a lesson."
The
family was stunned, because that was the same phrase that Al
Seastrand had been saying to the victim and anyone helping, "she
needs to be taught a lesson."
In
October 2004, Judge McManus ruled that the bankruptcy court
was not the proper jurisdiction for stopping Al Seastrand's
crimes against the victim. Nowhere in his ruling did he address
the fact that the U.S. Trustee conduct.
This
was the latest in a long line of government entities telling
the victim that it wasn't their jurisdiction to stop Al Seastrand.
See The
Stand: A case for prosecuting Al Seastrand.
***
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and
in the end...
Last
Updated 7-31-06
No
one has ever been held accountable for all the crimes against
Rob and LaVerne or against their daughter.
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Antonia
Darling has been appointed the national co-coordinator
of the U.S. Trustee Program, which seeks graft and corruption
to prosecute. She does lectures among her colleagues touting
the importance of cleaning out the corruption within the
bankruptcy system.
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John
Roberts still has his law license and is still
allowed to administer bankruptcy cases as a trustee.
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Al
Seastrand continues to operate in
the Sacramento Region and still has his real estate license
and law license. He has been heard talking about buying
property in Iowa. In total he received a windfall from
the victim in his "little adventure to get her home." You
can learn more about him in the Case
for Prosecuting Al Seastrand.
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Kathy
and Paul Fox. After being allowed to wash
their hands of their crimes in the bankruptcy court, the
Foxes fled the state and were last seen purportedly driving
a new Cadillac to their summer vacation home in the south-west.
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The
Parents never received justice. The fraudulent
bankruptcy in their names has never been removed from the
court record. You can learn more about what was done to
them by the Foxes in Perfect
Crime.
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American
River HealthPro Credit Union officers refuse
to return the victim's money.
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After
Darling's trial, friends reported that the victim was in such
a state of shock that she sat lifeless on her patio until 2
a.m. the next morning when someone got her to go inside the
home. Sometime later she was diagnosed with Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder. She has been in therapy to recover and is
working to rebuild her life. She spends time helping other
fraud victims denied justice.
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