United States v. Gellene
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
182 F.3d 578 (1999)
John Gellene (defendant), a partner at the law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, represented Bucyrus-Erie Company in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy court required Gellene to submit a sworn Rule 2014 statement disclosing all of Milbank's connections to the debtors, creditors, and other interested parties. Gellene omitted relevant connections on three separate occasions, including in a supplemental declaration given under oath at a hearing. He was charged with two counts of knowingly and fraudulently making a false material statement under 18 U.S.C. § 1623 and one count of perjury. A jury convicted him, and he was sentenced to over a year in prison.
Whether an attorney who knowingly and fraudulently omits, under oath, material information in a bankruptcy proceeding may be convicted of a federal crime.