Two Plead Guilty to Concealing Bankruptcy Assets

PROVIDENCE – A Providence couple has pled guilty to charges they concealed $70,000 in assets from a federal bankruptcy court when filing a joint voluntary bankruptcy petition. The couple failed to report assets related to the receipt of a $70,000 insurance settlement in their bankruptcy filing. The couple also repeatedly deposited and withdrew the funds, using multiple bank accounts and, at times, keeping some of the funds in bank checks, in an attempt to conceal the assets.

According to court documents and information presented to the Court, Danys Rivera, 49, and his wife, Diana Acevedo, 53, jointly filed a Chapter 13 voluntary bankruptcy petition in the District of Rhode Island Bankruptcy Court on March 22, 2013. The filing was made seven weeks after Rivera was awarded a lump sum private insurance settlement payment of $70,000.

An investigation determined that on February 11, 2013, ten days after receiving the insurance settlement, Rivera opened a bank account and deposited a $61,064.43 check from the settlement. Two weeks later he withdrew $59,581.29 in the form of a bank check made payable to himself and transferred $500 from the account to another bank account he controlled. On March 19, 2013, Rivera deposited $7,000 in cash into a bank account he controlled and Acevedo deposited $47,581.29 in cash into a bank account she controlled. Three days later, Acevedo withdrew the $47,581.29 in the form of a bank check made payable to both her and her husband.

On April 18, 2013, Rivera and Acevedo jointly filed a Chapter 13 voluntary bankruptcy petition with the Bankruptcy Court.  In documents that Acevedo and Rivera filed under penalty of perjury in the Bankruptcy Court, both failed to disclose the funds from the settlement among their assets. The proceeds from the $70,000 settlement payment were never included in any filings made by Rivera and Acevedo with the Bankruptcy Court.

Appearing before U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith on April 8, 2019, Danys Rivera pleaded guilty to concealment of bankruptcy assets, false statements under oath, and false bankruptcy declaration. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 16, 2019.

Appearing before U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith on Tuesday, Diana Acevedo pleaded guilty to concealment of bankruptcy assets. She is scheduled to be sentenced on August 30, 2019.

Rivera and Acevedo’s guilty pleas are announced by United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division Joseph R. Bonavolonta, and William Harrington, U.S. Trustee for Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise M. Barton. The matter was investigated by the FBI, with the assistance of the U.S. Trustee.