Boulder Doctor Pleads Guilty To Bankruptcy Fraud

Defendant used shell companies to hide assets from Bankruptcy Trustee

DENVER – Cathleen Van Buskirk, age 55, from Erie, Colorado, a doctor and surgeon from Boulder, Colorado, pled guilty Friday before U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martinez to Bankruptcy Fraud, U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer and FBI Denver Division Special Agent in Charge Calvin Shivers announced.  Van Buskirk appeared and was released on bond.  She is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Martinez on November 28, 2018.  She was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on December 4, 2017.

When Van Buskirk filed for bankruptcy in August 2014, she deliberately failed to disclose certain assets and took various steps to conceal her interest in those concealed assets. By her efforts, Van Buskirk concealed somewhere between $250,000-$500,000 worth of property that should have been part of her bankruptcy estate. Among the things, Van Buskirk concealed her property by giving a friend gold and silver coins, foreign currency, a diamond ring, and $48,000 in cash to hold for her.  She also routed $170,000 through various shell companies that were registered in the names of others but which Van Buskirk actually controlled.

This case was investigated by the FBI.  The defendant was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Pegeen Rhyne and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel E. Burrows.