Non-Dischargeable Debts

An attorney’s fabrication of evidence in his Chapter 7 bankruptcy drew disbarment from the New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department

In determining an appropriate measure of discipline, the respondent, inter alia, requests the Court consider his lack of experience as an attorney, his good character, and his remorse.

Notwithstanding the mitigation advanced, we find that the respondent committed serious misconduct by intentionally fabricating and destroying evidence with the intent to shield himself from liability for funds which were obtained through fraud, defalcation, embezzlement, and larceny. The breadth of the respondent’s misconduct was aptly summarized by the Special Referee, as follows:

“[T]he evidence demonstrates that respondent initiated and continued a multi-year strategy to—in simplest terms—cheat the law and the legal system. [The] ongoing scheme demonstrates tactics which were protracted, consistent, manipulative and fraudulent. In order to avoid his legal and financial responsibilities under the federal bankruptcy codes and regulations, he withheld, misrepresented, destroyed, concealed, manipulated, forged, and/or contrived evidence which was highly pertinent to the federal court and the litigation. Among those acts and omissions was his tampering with electronic computers and their data. Moreover, the decisions he made, the acts and omissions which followed, do not present themselves as either coerced, heat-of-the-minute, knee-jerk, impulsive, or reflexive. Quite to the contrary, they appear to have been planned, sophisticated and somewhat interdependent parts of a continuing and protracted course of conduct.”

Finally, we find the respondent’s failure to show “regret, repentance, or remorse,” as found by the Special Referee, to be a significant aggravating factor.

Under the totality of the circumstances, we find that a disbarment is warranted.

The victims

three adversary proceedings were commenced by creditors against the respondent to determine non-dischargeable debts, to wit: International Christian Broadcasting, Inc. v Michael W. Koper, Case No. 13-08167; Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana, Inc. v Michael W. Koper, Case No. 13-08168; and International Christian Broadcasting, Inc., and Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana, Inc. v Michael W. Koper and Brittany Koper, Case No. 13-08169. Each adversary complaint sought a determination that debts owed by the respondent to the plaintiff corporations were not   dischargeable under the United States Bankruptcy Code, arguing, in sum, that as a corporate officer of the plaintiff corporations, the respondent engaged in fraudulent activities, including the utilization of a corporate charge card for unauthorized personal expenses, embezzling corporate funds, and creating fraudulent corporate documents. 

He was sanctioned by the Bankruptcy Court. (Mike Frisch)